Once Taeyeon leaves EXO’s dorm, Baekhyun reenters the kitchen only to be welcomed by the stares of his four members. He was in the door frame while the others were all still in their chairs giving him a judging look. Baekhyun gets puzzled by the sudden atmosphere change.

‘So…what the heck just happened?’ Suho finally breaks the silence.

‘W-what do you mean?’

‘Are you serious, Baekhyun? We find Kim Taeyeon wondering in our house at the first hour in the morning and you expect us to stay chill?’ Suho says again.

‘Oh, I’ve though her presence won’t bother you…’

‘Of course, it doesn’t bother us. It’s just…we’re so dying to know what happened. Especially that, you know, I’ve found you on top of her...’ Jongdae bursts.

 ‘What?’ Baekhyun’s cheeks get faint pink at his friend’s words. Baekhyun hated the fact that we would always blush like a girl. Not manly at all.

‘Look at him, he got shy!’ Suho says, being his mama person.

‘That was…just an accident.  Nothing happened between us at all.’

‘Baekhyun, why you’re lying?’ Jongdae yells at him.

‘I’m not, I just brought her here cause she got drunk at Lee Soo Man’s and I couldn’t reach her place!’

‘That’s it?’ all four ask in union.

‘Yes!’

‘Sure?’

‘Yeah! What did you expect?’

‘We actually thought you FINALLY escaped the friend-zone!’ Chanyeol says in clear disappointment.

‘And we were all like ‘Whoa, hyung must be getting it in there!’’ Sehun says causing the other members to eye-side him for the second time this day.

‘How come you are the youngest but the most ert one here?’ Suho asks.

‘However, we must have a talk.’ Suho continues turning to Baekhyun again.

‘Ugh…why?’

‘Yah, just take a sit and listen!’ the leader says and Baekhyun obeys.

‘How much do you plan on waiting? 3 years have passed and you still haven’t done your move with Taeyeon!’

‘I don’t know. If I wasn’t confident enough to do it while we were ‘dating’ I guess it is in vain now. Having a relationship now would just make things more complicated.’

‘Still, you know SM left the break-up confirmation in the air so they can further fuel the public attention. There’s still a chance for you!’

‘We are friends for so long, Suho, I don’t want to ruin it right now. And honestly, I doubt she would accept me anyway. She dated freaking Xia Junsu!’

‘Who the heck cares? That happened like 8 years ago. Just have more self-confidence, man!’

‘…’

‘Yah, she had no problem sleeping in the same bed with you…’

‘It’s not like she had a choice.’

‘But did she get mad over it?’

‘No…’

‘She enjoyed it?’

The ‘I like the way you touch me’ scene flashes through Baekhyun’s head at this question sending shivers down on his spine. He wonders…did she really mean it?

‘How can I know?’

‘She cooked for you, even if you offered to cook for her first, lol.’

‘You’re being obtuse right now, she cooked for everyone, not just me.’

‘Ok, but she chose you to stay in the kitchen with her while she sent all us away.’

‘That’s not a big deal.’

‘She took care of your wound.’

‘Basically anyone that isn’t an awful person would have done that.’

‘Ok, she fluffs your hair, laughs at all your jokes even if they aren’t funny, calls you Baek, B, puppy and other pet names, always advantages you in everything…Why not play your chance?’

‘That’s not a big deal again, we’re friends…oh, wait, how do you know all these things?’

‘…’

‘You can stop now spying on me and Taeyeon and tell me what should I do with my life, ok?’

And he leaves with an obvious mad expression on his face.

‘Aigoo, why is uri Baekhyun so stubborn!’ Suho says now staring at the door Baekhyun just exited.

The others were just looking at the leader in approval.

Baekhyun enters his room slamming the door. He gets on the edge of the bed and sits on some pieces of clothing. He takes them in his hands and throws them on the floor in his furry.

‘Aish! Why is everything so ing complicated?’ he thinks to himself.

Yeah, it’s been almost 3 years since he got to fall for Kim Taeyeon and he didn’t dare to ask her out. He swears this girl is making him question himself. Back in high school, when he was the vocalist of the school band, he could have had all the girls he wanted. He was so confident and flirty and macho back then. And even till this day, if he was to seduce a girl, he would know exactly what there is to do; he always considered himself to have a way with girls. But Taeyeon…Whenever she is around his knees weaken and he becomes self-conscious, way too self-conscious. Is his hair ok, his clothes, his teeth…should he go talk to her, or should he not? Should he smile or should he not? He is nervous, he always wants to come out perfectly, but somehow he always ends up making a joke out of himself. And then she laughs. And he feels relived cause it is always good to make girls laugh, but, he wants her to see him like a cool male, not just the class clown. She never seemed to be irritated at him and his annoyingness, on contrary, she was always friendly and helpful and the guys are right, she always advantaged him in a way or other even if Baekhyun would never admit that in front of them. There were times when he felt like she treats him like they are in a true relationship. But he was confused if this is all an act because they were fake dating or it was genuine from her. She would always seek out his presence at the events they go, sit by his side (she says is for the fans to see them in the same frame, but it makes him so happy), she comes backstage sometimes to cheer him up, she also gave a lot of helpful vocal advices, heck, one day she even come up with some sandwiches for the members, she said fans send them for her and the staffs, but they were some left and wanted to share with them. Frankly, there were times when he was more than sure she has feelings for him as well, but he fears to become delusional so he doesn't think about this seriously. When he sees other male idols, male idols like 2PM, Beast, even Big Bang members flirting with her, his self-esteem falls on the ground. It’s true, at this very moment, EXO as a group is doing better than most of these guys’ groups, but all these guys are older, richer, have much better bodies, more free time, an actual house and an actual car for themselves and don’t depend on a manager all the time. But him? What does he have? Youth, voice, a somehow decent face and a good sense humor, but that’s it, nothing more to offer. Taeyeon fans were right, he was basically the worst choice she can make.

But still, he felt like she never treated those guys the same way she treated him, take care of them like he takes of him, smile charmingly at them as she smiles at him. Thinking of all this, he gains back some of his confidence, but then he sees her around the ‘better’ guys again and he gets discouraged again. It is an unending circle. He said that dating will help him get over her, but even if he tried he couldn’t push himself to date someone else. It just felt like it’s in vain if he doesn’t have genuine feelings for the other person. So he just worked in improving himselfin order  win confidance and be noticed more by his noona. And he started to work out. Taeyeon was not the mere reason, of course, he was preparing for an action movie (that got canceled, whhyyy?) and the other guys were all doing so and stealing a lot of fangirls so he naturally wanted to be in trend. And he was happy when Taeyeon praised his more toned arms, it stimulated him even more. But it seemed like no matter how much he works out, he will never be muscular enough, it’s just his body that is like a teenager’s.

However, this was going on for too ing long. He should get over her already. If he is going to continue and hold into all the ‘ifs’ he will grow white hairs and die early. Were the members right, should he confess? He thought he should. If she says no then he can finally understand all this is in vain and will be able move on with his life, hopefully. But will he confess? Heck no. What if she refuses him and stops talking to him afterwards? He doesn’t want to lose her like this, he wants her by his side more than anything. But staying the same and being tortured by hope foerver? It’s something that he can’t accept any longer.

As he was standing on his bed thinking about this, he took a look in the room only to realize that the clothes he threw on the floor were Taeyeon’s. He picked up her red shirt, black tank top and jeans. Seems like she forgot her clothes there.

Flashing costumes, eye-catching make-ups, fake blood, noise, loud music and a lot of alcoholic drinks…it seems like the atmosphere in this year’s Halloween Party is more incendiary than last year’s. Baekhyun was really enjoying himself tonight…maybe enjoying a little too much since that bottle of liquor tempted him all night. But he drank just enough to raise his moral and eagerness to party. Surprisingly, Baekhyun is that kind of specimen that it’s very loud when sober, but awfully quiet when drunk. 2 years ago when they celebrated Kyungsoo’s birthday at the dorm (bish didn’t want to organize something out) and EXO members all got drunk together for the first time, they expected drunk Baekhyun to entertain them with something crazy, just like how he did in that pre-debut videos, but he was just standing there looking in the room with a blank stare. The members were so disappointed back then.

He kind of regretted he didn’t pay more attention to his costume, some of the SHINee guys looked so good. Last year Taeyeon proposed him to get couple clothes, so they went to choose outfits together ahead of time. Honestly, Taeyeon had good taste, she chose both her and his costumes and stylized them, they looked perfect and took tones of selcas together to show it off. But this year, since they ‘broke-up’ and she wasn’t sure if she is going to attend or not, they didn’t talk about the Halloween party much. He individually didn’t put any effort, he just rent a costume the very last day. Of course, since he was so late he was left with that ridiculous pink bunny costume reminiscent of a KakaoTalk emoticon. But it doesn’t matter that much to him anyway.

He was enjoying himself on the dance floor with s and some other friends but didn’t forget to take looks at SNSD’s table from time to time. He was still holding into the hope that Taeyeon might appear. He didn’t want to raise his hopes uselessly, but you know, wishing doesn’t hurt anyone.

He was tired, so he took a seat at EXO’s table and fill up another glass with liqour, when he noticed a blondie at SNSD’s table.  His heart started to beat faster. So she came…

‘OMG, Kim Taeyeon! You’re here!’ Tiffany says happily putting the hood of Taeyeon’s jacket on Taeyeon’s head to express her excitement.

The blonde girl removes the hood from her head and puts it in its place calmly.

‘I’ve thought you weren’t going, especially after Youan’s burst of jealousy when you appeared wearing boy clothes this morning.’ Tiffany says in a serious tone this time.

‘That is his problem, I’ve already said he should stop acting like I am his girlfriend, I am not.’

‘But you still go on dates with him, huh.’

‘Look, my mother is friends with the Yoon’s, she likes this guy, plus he is hella rich and one of the main investors of our eye glasses businesses. I can’t simply just reject him like I do with 99% of the guys.’

‘Oh, he must be a jerk if he takes advantage of that.’

‘Fany-ah, he’s not as bad as I make him out to be. He is just occasionally immature. The thing is...I don’t like him, I mean not in a romantic way.’

‘Find a way to gently get rid of him, then. Don't force yourself on him if you don't enjoy it.'

'This is what I am trying to do, but I don't think it works.'

'Yah, we better stop thinking about him, he's not that important. We should now concentrate on getting you a proper Halloween costume.’

‘Neah, I am here for just an hour or two, I won’t bother.’

‘Let’s at least draw you some whiskers.’

Baekhyun eyed Taeyeon from his table that was at the opposite part of the room. He was itching to go talk to her, but he didn't know if he should come by her side this early. He feared he would be too obvious. Plus, they were still some paparazzi taking photos here and there, The Celebrity tabloid is going to make a mega article about this event.

When he thought the place got paparazzi free, meaning about the end of the party, he somehow persuaded Jongin to assist him to SHINee's table that was near SNSD's, so he won't look like he went specifically for her. It was the time Taeyeon and Tiffany were talking selcas together.

'Let's take a selcas too!' he proposes Jongin and the guy accepts right away. He is so strangely cooperant tonight, Baekhyun thinks to himself.

Both Taeyeon and Tiffany, Baekhyun and Jongin were taking selcas happily at neighbouring tables.

‘Hey, hey, hey, whatch’a doing, selca brothers? Want to take a photo with us?’ Tiffany says to them all of a sudden.

Bless Tiffany’s friendly nature!

So Baekhyun and Jongin take a seat at SNSD’s table that was now occupied only by the two girls.  The four of them did tones of funny selcas, in different positions, even exchanging pieces of clothing, like Taeyeon and Tiffany wearing Baekhyun’s bunny sleep mask and the boys wearing Fany’s red hood, even using random props. They laughed so hard.

Unfortunately Jongin leaves for SHINee’s table again and Baekhyun remains with the ladies.

‘Ready for part 2?’ Tiffany asks and Taeyeon and Baekhyun nod.

This time they did individual shots and by two. When they got bored, they rested on the soft sofa. Seriously, this place was so much better than last year one.

‘Now, let’s post on Instagram!’ Taeyeon says.

They were all on their phones now, checking the photos and posting the ones they liked.

‘Look, we come out so good in this photo!’ Taeyeon says to Baekhyun smiling.

‘Yeah! The light didn’t wash our faces and we both smiled prettily.’

‘Too bad we can’t share it with the world. I will put it next to the ones of last year’s party in the ‘Memories’ album.’

In the end, Taeyeon posted selcas with Tiffany. Baekhyun posted selcas with Kai. Only Tiffany posted selcas with both Taeyeon and Baekhyun, but separately. Will crazy EXO-Ls get made over it? Most probably. But Tiffany Mi Young Hwang fails to give a . (A/N: Thank you, Tiff, for that BaekFany selca, haha!).

‘Yay! They brought the cake! Haha!’ Tiffany jumps from her seat like a little girl. ‘Ya, you two, let’s go and take our rightful piece before they eat it all.’

Taeyeon and Baekhyun look at each other and then follow Tiffany’s excited steps. They liked it how Tiffany was so hyper for cake.

They both took their piece and wanted to head to SNSD’s table, but notice that Tiffany’s missing.

‘Where the heck she is?’ Taeyeon asks.

‘Isn’t she the one at the table with Minho and Key?’ Baekhyun points out.

‘Yeah, you’re right, she ditched us.’

‘Let’s go to our table, I guess…’ Taeyeon was starting to walk to her table when Baekhyun stopped her.

‘Don’t you want to go in a quieter place?’

‘Why not? Honestly, it got too noisy for me in there.’

‘We better get out coats, it’s a not cold outside, but still. Ah…and take your plate too.’

This whole thing made Taeyeon a little excited, even if she didn’t want to show it. She took her red coat and followed Baekhyun’s steps outside the restaurant.  They didn’t go to the exit, contrary, they headed to the backyard. They walked down an alley made of soft gravel, on the sides there were still autumnal flowers in bloom; a variety of orange, light brown, yellow and blood red familiar flowers Taeyeon couldn’t remember the name of. It was dark outside, but small bulb lights were guiding their way. Honestly that garden wasn’t that much of a view, what would you expect for late Octomber?, but it was pretty. They didn’t walk for too long that they reached a lovely wooden house.

 It seems that, initially they wanted to make it into a pavilion, but they ended up building a full house out of it. It had big windows so the ones that were eating there would be able to admire the beautiful garden. It was built for couples or people that simply wanted to eat in the nature. The idea didn’t seem to work as the owners imagined, so they didn’t build more of them. As SM rented the place, the wooden house was theirs too.

Taeyeon and Baekhyun enter the house; it was dark so he switched the light on.  

‘I’m surprised no one is there, it’s just fine here, not cold at all.’ Baekhyun says.

The interior was a weird combination between Japanese style and modern style. The room was illuminated by a light bulb that looked like a lampion. On one of the walls there was hanged a huge blue fan with a beautiful cherry blossom tree and some complicated Japanese characters painted on it. On the window still there were hodge-podges with pretty red geraniums. The middle of the room was occupied by a wooden table and two clothed benches on sides. The table was clothed with the same flowery pattern as the benches. The room had the potential to be pretty and elegant, but it was too little and disorganized. (A/N: Don’t mind me, descriptions are not my thing.)

 ‘It’s still much better than in the restaurant.’ Taeyeon said when Baekhyun pointed it out ‘I like going to company parties, but staying for too long it just drains all my energy. I like quiet places like this one better.’

Baekhyun took a seat on one of the benches and Taeyeon come beside him on the same bench, preferring it instead of facing him. It felt intimate.

‘So..what are your plans for your next week?’ he asks.

‘Just work, finishing my concert series.’

‘I bet a lot of people asked you already so I hope it’s not annoying, but how is it to be solo?’

‘I don’t know how to explain. I would say it’s scary, because you are used to other 8 people covering up your mistakes and suddenly you are all alone and have to handle everything by yourself. It’s making me anxious; to know all the people are looking at me, only me, it’s scary and beautiful at the same time. It feels so good, especially when I am preforming at the concert, to know all the people came for me, to see only me, to cheer on me only. I know it sounds selfish, but it such a precious thing.’

‘It’s not selfish, I guess it must be blissful. I really want to try it myself, but I doubt SM will endure to give any of us, EXO members, a solo anytime soon.’

‘And that’s a bad thing because I know you could handle. You improved so much during these years, Baek, I remember when we first meet.’

‘Yeah, I was on the verge of crying because the dance couch yelled at me for being sniff and threaten he won’t debut me anymore.’

‘It was late in the night and I was about to leave when I heard your sobs from the practice room.’

‘You come in and asked me why I was crying. ‘

‘You were so adorable. Especially when I’ve put you to show me part of the choreography and you danced with your eyes in tears, you looked like a kicked puppy.’

‘I was really bad, I hardly could sleep that night thinking that I must have looked bad in front of you.’

‘Pabo-ya! I was there to encourage you, not judge you. I even told you stories about my struggles with dancing when learning 'Into The New World' choreography and how I was put to wash the toilets when I didn’t do the steps properly.’

‘I know you just wanted to encourage me, but the state I was in wasn’t the one I would have liked to meet anyone.’ He said. ‘Because of all the stories, I remember we left late that night.’

‘Yeah, it was almost dusk.’

‘Taeyeon noona, you have no idea how much you helped me during my debut. I am grateful for that!’

‘Yeah, stop fluttering me, it wasn’t that much of a big deal!’

‘To me it was.’

‘I am happy that I could help, then. EXO are precious hoobaes to me. Actually, you are my favorites, but please don’t tell Minho that because I’ve always told him I like SHINee the best.’

‘But how do I know you don’t tell Minho the same about EXO. Like…’You guys are my favorites, but don’t tell Baekhyun because I’ve always told him EXO is the best.’

‘Hmm…it’s 9 December, right?’

‘What?’

‘Your comeback, pabo!’

‘Yeah, how did you know?’

‘I know, I checked it out on SM’s official board as a curious EXO fangirl that I am.’

Baekhyun blinks in both confusion and surprise.

‘I’m proving you that I’m anticipating your comeback, I don’t even know exactly when SHINee’s last comeback was. Maybe in August?’

‘Anticipating our comeback, that’s so nice of you, noona! I bet you’ll like our next title song, it’s something you’d enjoy.’

‘What’s its name?’

‘Sing for you.’

‘I already like it. The name…’

‘The song reminds me of us.’

‘Of us? About you and I?

‘Yes. Would you let me sing some of the lyrics for you?’

‘Of course!’

Baekhyun warmed his voice then started to sing shyly.

With my old guitar

I’ll take all the confessions I couldn’t say

All the things I swallowed inside

And tell you right now as if I made it into a song

Just listen, I’ll sing for you

I love you so much but I don’t tell you that I love you

It’s awkward, my pride won’t allow me

I’ll take courage and tell you today

But just listen without much thought, I’ll sing for you

The way you cry, the way you smile

Do you know how much you mean to me?

Words I want to say, words I lost

I’ll confess to you but just listen

I’ll sing for you, sing for you

Just listen and smile

Baekhyun’s voice was shaking from his nervousness and it was more airy that usual, but to Taeyeon, all this obvious flaws didn’t matter. It sounded heavenly. It was so full of emotions that it was almost overwhelming.  She could feel Baekhyun pouring his heart, all his being in it and it was so beautiful. Her body was aching at every note and if she wasn’t so used with fighting tears, she would have been teary by now.  It wasn’t just the lyrics, it was the way his voice made her feel, how it resonated with her soul.

When he stopped, she could only look at him with loving eyes and take his hand into hers.

‘It’s so beautiful.’ She said almost voicelessly.

For a moment, all they did was staring into each other eyes full of emotions.

‘Taeyeon noona. This song wasn’t composed or written by me, but I’ve always felt like it was destined for me to sing it. I feel like this song is my personal story. When I sing it I think about myself, about my fears. I wanted to say it for a long time, but something always held me back. Taeyeon noona, I love you, I..,’

‘Baekhyun-ah, don’t say things like this, please.’

‘I don’t care if you don’t accept my confession, I just want to take it off my chest. I love you. Ever since I saw you singing ‘If’ to the trainee girls that day, I was hooked by you. You took care of me and supported me in my hard debut days, you encouraged me and made me feel good about myself. You don’t know how much all these things meant to me. On top of that, you are so beautiful, outside and inside, sincere, passionate and such a great artist. How can you expect me to not love you? To not want to give you my everything?’

‘Baekhyun…’

‘I don’t care. I just want you to know my feelings. I know I am not good for you, I know I am too young, too immature, too irresponsible; I know there are much better boys out here for you. I will understand if you reject me, I know I….’

Baekhyun’s almost deliric discourse was interrupted by Taeyeon pressing her red lips on his lips.

_______________________________________________________________

A/N: Whoo, I’ve finally finished this chapter, it took me ages, but it’s my favorite chapter so far.

Thank you for the encouraging comments, guys. I am sorry that I didn’t reply to you or if I came out as attention-seeker-ish last time, it’s that I wanted to make this story epic, with a lot of deep and funny , but it felt kind of flat.

However, I am pretty contented with my work and I hope you will continue supporting it.

Baekyeon fighting!