“Baekhyun, since we didn’t get to celebrate Christmas, my mom thought it would be nice if you could join us.”

“I would love to but I-I can’t. I’m so sorry. Thanks for the invitation.”

“Do join us, Baekhyun. Chanyeol’s gonna be there. I’m sure you haven’t met Chanyeol yet.”

“Err, yeah. No yet. I guess?”

“He’ll be so happy to meet you. So will you come tomorrow?”

“I… I really shouldn’t. I’ll be working…”

“Give me your number. I’ll call you later.”

“O-okay.”

The commuter-packed train pulled into Sinchon station and the voice announcing the next stop brought her out of her reverie. The walk back to home was the longest for Baekhyun and she was glad when Kyungsoo opened the door. Just the sight of her made Baekhyun feel better. She could not imagine not having Kyungsoo as her best friend. Kyungsoo gasped as Baekhyun’s hug knocked the air from the lungs.

Once she had cleaned up and warmed herself with a mug of hot chocolate; courtesy of Kyungsoo, she told her everything starting from how she saved Kris until the ride Yoora offered her to the nearest subway station.

“Come on, Baekhyun.” Kyungsoo’s tone was consoling as she put the empty mug on the coffee table and stood up.

“Go and have a rest first. Sleep. We’ll decide what to do tomorrow.”

Except that night Baekhyun kept tossing around for she could not even sleep, not even a blink. The tight knot of guilt had kept her awaked most of the night. She still remembered the conversation she had with the nurse.

“Why did you tell that to them?”

 “Tell what?”

“That I’m his fiancée.”

“Why didn’t you correct me in the first place?”

“I’m not engaged and I’ve never even spoken to the guy.”

“What? But downstairs you said… you said you wanna marry him.”

“Oh, geez. I was talking to myself.”

“Well, next time you talk to yourself, tell yourself you’re single and try to keep it to yourself so that people won’t misunderstand.”

“Oh, no. What am I gonna do?”

“I don’t know hon. I’m sorry too.”

“His mother and sister, they held me so tight. I didn’t have the heart. I couldn’t tell them. They were even talking about his grandmother’s heart problem.”

“I know, hon.”

The look that the nurse gave her reminded her so much of her father when he realized that all the treatments could not save him from the cancerous disease.

There’s nothing more they could do about it.

It was 3 a.m. when Baekhyun yanked the cover off and took a cab to visit Kris. She quietly went to his room and stood next to his bed. She inched closer and sat on the chair next to him.

“Hi, Kris. I’m sure you’ll be wondering what I’m doing here in the middle of the night, right? I thought I should introduce myself first then. My name is Baekhyun, Byun Baekhyun. Uhm, I think you should know your family thinks we’re engaged. I’ve never been engaged before. Truthfully this is all very sudden of me. Actually I’m here to tell you that I-I… didn’t mean for this to happen. I really don’t know what to do. If you’re awake I’m sure we wouldn’t be in this mess. I’m sorry.”

Never in her wildest dream that she would be in the same room with his crush, being so close to him even though he was in comatose. After her father passed away she started to plan what she would do after she finished her collage. She wanted to look for a better job, own an apartment, perhaps have a cat and even sole possession of the remote control. She giggled softly when she remembered the times she fought with Kyungsoo over the remote control. Her housemate preferred sappy romantic dramas while Baekhyun loved horror, action typed dramas. It was not that she did not want to live with her housemate anymore, it was just that it was about time she started to live independently. Kyungsoo had helped her so much especially after her father passed away. She was her shoulder to cry on. She was always with her when she missed her father so much. She understood that Kyungsoo would not be forever with her. She saw how happy she was when she talked to her boyfriend, Jongin over the phone, oh how she wished she had one too.

She still didn’t meet anybody that she could be comfortable with or laugh with. Someone that could make her smile and even laugh at the silliest jokes. Someone that would accept her unconditionally.

“Kris, do you believe in love at the first sight? I bet you don’t because you seem to be too sensible for that. Have you ever loved somebody and you just want to grow old with her? That you would even dump the perfect model you were with just to be with that person?”

Baekhyun smiled and pulled the cover so that it would keep Kris warm.

“Have you fallen in love with somebody you haven’t even talked to? Or have you ever been so alone you spend the night confusing a man in coma?”

Baekhyun did not realize that Yoora was standing behind the slightly ajar door, listening to everything.

“Silly. What am I doing? I shouldn’t be here.” Baekhyun decided to join the dinner after she talked about it with Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo suggested Baekhyun to pay the family a visit first and decide later on when to tell them about the engagement. She was contemplating to go home when she heard Yoora calling her name.

“Baekhyun! You’ve made it! How do you feel?” Yoora practically skipped towards her and held one of her hands and gave a gently squeeze.

“Okay. Just okay.”

“Come on. Keep me company for a while. The house is so stuffy now. Grandma has been fussing around and I decided to offer myself to go out and buy these apples even though we have lots at home right now.” Yoora smiled sheepishly.

“Let’s sit here.” They headed to bench next to the gate. It was getting cold but it did not stop the stars to twinkle brightly that night.

Baekhyun was gazing at the stars when Yoora spoke.

“Did you know that Kris is my step-brother?”

“Really? Yeah, come to think of it, you guys do look different but both of you are very tall so I didn’t notice.” Baekhyun chuckled lightly and Yoora just hummed quietly.

“My mom married Kris’ father when they met fifteen years ago. They went for a same seminar in Busan. The two of them hit it off right away and decided to get married within months of knowing each other. So I have one additional younger brother with Chanyeol being the youngest.” Yoora continued after a pregnant pause.

“You’re lucky, Yoora. It’s really important to have family around this time of year.” Baekhyun smiled rather sadly.

“Are you… I mean, are your parents with you?” Yoora asked rather hesitantly, afraid the question might offend Baekhyun.

“No. My mom died when I was really young and three years ago my dad died after he decided he had enough treatments.”

“My real father died when I was twelve. It was a rough time for not only me but for mom and Chanyeol too. Chanyeol was too young to understand. I still remember mom would cry when Chanyeol kept asking about dad.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, Yoora.” It was Baekhyun’s turn to feel sympathy.

“Nah, it’s okay. Really. I’m just glad that everything went well gradually after mom married Kris’ father. Sometimes we do miss dad, especially Chanyeol but bàbà made our home warm with his love and attention.”

“Baekhyun, the Wus… they take really good care of me and my family. I’d never let anyone hurt them.” Yoora turned and looked at Baekhyun.

“Neither would I.” Yoora tried to search for lies in her eyes and she was happy she found none.

“I believe you, Baekhyun.”  

The dinner was wonderful. The food was delicious; it was a surf and turf delight. The company was good; Kris’ family took turns in sharing stories, including Kris and Chanyeol’s funny and embarrassing moments despite both of them were absent. Kris was still hospitalized, obviously, Chanyeol on the other hand, had an emergency and he would be coming later.

Baekhyun even had the chance to try Grandma Wu’s eggnog. Yoora vehemently advised Baekhyun to drink soda instead but Grandma Wu was too sweet, she could not refuse her. They took pictures together. Everything went well and suddenly Baekhyun started to feel guiltier. The guilty she felt became unbearable when they presented her a gift. Baekhyun tried so hard to keep herself from crying as it had been a long time since she celebrated Christmas this merrily and the fact she was supposed to tell them the truth.

It was almost 1 a.m. when Chanyeol opened the door and struggled to toe his shoes off. It was quiet when he wandered into the living room, sighing tiredly.

“Chanyeol! You’re here.” Chanyeol jumped a little when he saw Yoora moved to stand up from the couch.

“Noona, you scared me.” His voice was slightly squeaked.

Yoora hugged her brother. “Everyone was waiting for you. We thought you would join the dinner. Grandma was so upset that none of her grandsons joined her for the dinner.” Chanyeol hugged her back.

“I’m so sorry. I had to revise the contract. Bàbà would not be so happy if the deal with the company from Japan is not successful. Oh, don’t let bàbà know about this, please.” 

“I will if only you promise me to accompany grandma to visit Kris tomorrow.”

“Sure, no problem. Wait, that’s it?” Chanyeol looked at his sister sceptically.

“Yes, baby brother. Go and accompany her.” She patted his cheek lightly before climbing up the stairs.

“Oh, Chanyeol. Please calm her down when she goes into hysterics the moment she sees Kris.”

“What?! Noona, you can’t do that to me. She’s going to hit me!” Chanyeol childishly whined. He followed his sister upstairs like a kicked puppy.

“One more thing,” Yoora stopped abruptly from walking to her room. “Go to Kris’ room. Baekhyun is occupying your room. Mom made her sleep there. She said you room is more decent than Kris’.”

“Who’s Baekhyun?”

“Kris’ fiancée.”

“Good morning.”

“Oh God!” Baekhyun put her hand on her chest, completely surprised to see someone sitting on the bench where she sat with Yoora last night. This must be Chanyeol.

“Did I scare you?” Chanyeol chuckled lightly. “I’m sorry.”

“Uhm, good morning. Chanyeol.” Baekhyun swallowed rather hardly. Uh oh.

“I guess I don’t remember meeting you.” Stop looking at me like that.

“Well, that’s because we’ve never met before?” This is bad, this is bad.

“That might have something to do with it then.” Don’t smile like that.

“I… I have to go. I’m… I’m already late so... so I really have to go now. But it was nice to meet you, Chanyeol. So, bye.” Baekhyun started to walk away and she was so ready to make a dash when Chanyeol called her name.

“Baekhyun,”