The Kims were good friends with my parents, so it wasn't really surprising when they brought up Lord Minseok Kim as a potential match for me. It was my third season after all and if I didn't settle now, I was doomed to a life of maidenhood, something that terrified my mother more than the prospect of sending me off to another country.

He was kind of young in my opinion, although I later changed it. He was quite an intriguing personage and shared many of the same interests I did. Mother's pushiness didn’t surprise me but I'd expected better of Baekhyun.

'You cannot spend the rest of your life pining for someone who is never coming back,' he told me, ignoring my grimace of pain. 'Jongdae was my friend too and I can assure you that he would not want you to waste away like this.'

'I'm not wasting away,' I pointed out when he stopped his lecture, 'I intend to spend the rest of my days writing music and painting. Making a name for myself as an artiste hardly constitutes decomposition.'

'Stop justifying yourself, you know what I mean.'

'Just go ogle Mae,' I pushed him off the bench he'd forced his way on. He fell on his but didn't bother getting up, grabbing a sheet of paper that had fallen down and reading the lyrics I'd written.

'Do you call it an Ode to Jongdae?' He asked, frowning at the paper. I snatched it away, blushing a little because it was one of my more personal pieces.

'It's called Farewell, First Love,' I muttered, hiding it underneath the newer sheets and resolutely ignoring his judgmental stare. 'And I'm still working on it.'

'If it really is farewell, then you shouldn’t have any objections to Lord Kim,' he pointed out.

I didn’t reply and he sighed. 'Fine, do what you want. I can keep you in my house when you're old and gray, I suppose. You can be our children's nanny.'

'I wasn't aware that Mae had agreed to marry you,' I arched my brow at him, 'she hasn't even debuted yet.'

He sputtered defensively. 'Mae? Who said anything about that brat? As if…'

'Oh that's right…' I muttered thoughtfully, 'You haven't seen her yet.'

Baekhyun eyed me suspiciously, 'Why? Is she…?' he shook his head. 'Doesn't matter, I want nothing to do with that brat.'

I smiled. 'We'll see.'

………………………………….

It wasn't that I didn't like Minseok. He was handsome, polite and charming and his family was very well off. He could even afford to send me to visit my parents at least once a year, so mother had nothing to worry about.

It was just that the range of emotions I had in me could probably fit at the base of a teacup and while I was perfectly happy being emotionally crippled, I wouldn't impose that on anyone, let alone someone as nice as him.

He seemed to understand which made me surer about my decision.

Mother, of course, wasn't happy but this time, even she simply sighed like she hadn't expected anything else and excused me for my music class.

It wasn’t until Junmeyoon handed me a handkerchief when I finished playing my latest composition that I realized I was crying.

His eyes were gentle and understanding, like Minseok's when I'd excused myself and for some reason, that made me cry even more.

……………………………………

Baekhyun's reaction to Mae, when she finally returned from her overseas trip with Ri, was utterly unsurprising to anyone who'd known him since childhood.

Therefore, I and Lord Kyungsoo Do, the last and possibly the brainiest member of our Pirate gang, only sighed and continued about our business as he waxed poetic about her beauty, sounding utterly baffled.

'How?' He asked Kyungsoo again, forgetting his poise and shaking his arm. 'How did that snotty brat turn into this… this elegant specimen of feminine grace?'

'She was always pretty, you just didn't notice it.' Kyungsoo didn't bother to look up from the map he was consulting, making notes on the parchment.

'But…' Baekhyun seemed incapable of losing the shocked look on his face, 'how could I miss it?' He turned to me, eyes pleading, 'How could I miss it?'

He considered himself something of an expert on beauty, well aware of his distinguished taste in the finer things of life and naturally, well aware of his own cha