They went back to the same room the next afternoon.

And after that, they found the next room: a library.

It was small, and empty. Six bookshelves filled up two walls while couches and coffee tables filled up two others.

Baekhyun was quiet was he looked around for a nice book to read, whereas Chanyeol sat down without one.

"You aren't going to find a book?"

"I'm not particularly fond of them," Chanyeol replied, "What about you?"

"They're all I have to do, so they're all I ever do."

He sat down with a stack of seven books.

"We have three hours until we have to head back to our rooms," Chanyeol reminded him, "You're confident in finishing them all?"

"No," Baekhyun replied, "I'm going to take them with me and read them at night."

"All of these?"

"All of these."

"All night?"

"All night."

"You won't be tired?"

Baekhyun shrugged, "I don't see a point in going to sleep."

It was simple, but still enough for Chanyeol to understand.

He eyed the book in Baekhyun's hand, "What book is it?"

"One that my mom used to read a lot," Baekhyun looked at it, flipping through the pages, "She always told me to read it later when I was older. I figured I'm old enough now."

"Is it a hard question if I ask you where your mom is?"

"No," Baekhyun's eyes fluttered around the room, from shelf to shelf of books, "Not at all. She's... she left when I was twelve. Not the dead kind of left, she just disappeared. But my dad told me later on that they divorced. I don't believe him." Baekhyun turned, "Is it a hard question if I ask you about your family?"

"My father's a factory worker and my mom works multiple shifts at some restaurant. God knows where my brother is, he's probably gambling at a casino or drinking at a bar. I stopped talking to him years ago, he never understood." Chanyeol leaned back, "Sometimes I feel bad towards my parents because there they are, working hard to support themselves. But then there's my brother, throwing away the money that my parents worked all day and all night to earn. And then there's me, in a mental institution trying to kill myself. Their kids are the most messed up things you could imagine, and yet they worked so hard for them. Isn't it ironic?"

"Do you think everyone in here has messed up families? Like me and you?"

"No, I figure that some ninety percent of them come from wealthy, happy ass families. And that's okay, I guess I just feel a little... jealous."

"Only a little?" Baekhyun opened to the first page of his book, "Well thanks, it's been half an hour and I didn't get through a word of this book."

"You got through the title," Chanyeol suggested, smiling mischievously.

"Nice try, dickhead, but I meant the pages."

"The cover's a p-"

"Can you shut up? I can't talk and read at the same time."

Chanyeol smiled even wider and grabbed a book from the shelf in front of him.

"'Getting Through High School?'" he read aloud, "These people obviously don't look at the books before shoving them into these shelves."

"Oh that's a helpful book," Baekhyun teased, "But I thought you were nineteen."

"Well, Byun Baekhyun, my birth year has nothing to do with my mental age."
-----
They replaced their time in the park with time in the recreational rooms.

They found that it was fun making songs together in the music room, and that it was just as fun to talk in the quiet library, but then again, nobody ever really stopped by the recreational rooms. Everyone was so busy trying to get better that they didn't realize how much easier it would be if they found something to make themselves happy.

Baekhyun was getting better, and Chanyeol was getting happier.

And little by little, Baekhyun started to smile.

He had lived for four years not allowing himself a single smile at all.

But it all changed when he met Chanyeol.

It was probably the way that Chanyeol talked to him like nothing really mattered. Or it might have been the way that Chanyeol always smiled at him, and he might have wanted to return it.

Either way, Baekhyun began to allow himself a small smile.

His eyes would light up with it and they would crinkle right at the outer corners.

Chanyeol didn't realize that it was because of him. He knew that Baekhyun was getting better, but he didn't realize that he was the reason for it.

Chanyeol noticed every single little gradual change in Baekhyun. He saw how Baekhyun's cheekbones weren't as visibly sharp, he saw how the shirts didn't hang around his waist as much, and he of course saw how much happier he was.

It was slow and blurry, but put together, it was anything but subtle.

He was going to get better, and both of them knew it. ||