Baekhyun had suddenly gone back to his old self. The day after he saw Sehun and Hae Ryung together at the café, he didn’t show himself to the girl anymore. She was worried. She thought something had happened to him but Kai told her he was just trying to calm himself down. For what? Hae Ryung had no idea and even if she asked Kai about it or her other friends, they would all say they didn’t know.

It was suspicious. She didn’t buy it but she eventually stopped pestering them when they just wouldn’t budge no matter what she did or said. As she tried and tried to get a hold of Baekhyun, her friends are oddly telling her to let him be for a while, that he needed to be left alone or he needed space.

It was all bull to her. It was unfair. How could they know how he is while she can’t? Why would he talk to them and not to her? Had she done something wrong? No. Not that she was aware of but aside from this whole ordeal with her stupid best friend, she was facing a problem of her own. Sehun still wouldn’t let up. To her, they have broken up but to him, they were merely taking a break.

It was stressing her out. As much as she’d like to open up to So Eun and the boys, she knew she wouldn’t feel a hundred percent better if it wasn’t Baekhyun comforting her and giving her advice about it. She waited for him over the weekend but as the week days rolled in, there was no sign of a Byun Baekhyun anywhere. “It’s alright. Maybe he’ll be here tomorrow,” she told herself on Monday but on Tuesday, there was still no Baekhyun, or the day after that and the next, or the next.

A full week had past and he still hadn’t shown up.

“This is so unfair! Why aren’t any of you telling me where he is? It’s not enough that I know he’s alright. I want to see him! Please… Please let me know,” Hae Ryung pleaded with So Eun and the other boys worriedly glancing at each other. Baekhyun was still in contacting them, updating them at the same time making sure that Hae Ryung didn’t know where he was.

It was tearing them apart that their friends are suffering like this but they understood Baekhyun. He can’t exactly handle seeing his Nabi just yet. All he needed was some time to heal and he’d be back. He’d be a proper best friend again. Just the best friend.

“Yah! Byun Baekhyun! You good-for-nothing bastard, can you stop being a head ache to mom and dad and get your back to school? How about I tell them to just stop sending you to school, huh? You’re wasting their money! Why don’t you just get a ing job instead to make yourself useful for once!” his brother yelled and huffed, picking up cans and cans of beer that Baekhyun has consumed.

All the scolding he was getting flew over his head. If his brother hated him, he hated himself too. He despised himself. He was back to his old ways, skipping school, drinking and getting into random fights. He even tried to fool around with some girls but at the heat of the moment, their faces would suddenly blur and all he could see was Hae Ryung.

Hae Ryung this, Hae Ryung that. Nabi, Nabi, Nabi, Nabi…

He felt annoyed with himself. He felt hurt. He felt angry. He felt jealous but at the same time, that name and that girl made him feel happy, made his nerves calm, made him feel like he was floating, that name and that girl is making him miss her so, so much.

It was haunting him but he oddly didn’t mind. He wanted to see her at least even if it was from a far but his fear got the best of him. He can’t face her. He didn’t want to. At least not yet... Not when he’s a mess like this. Baekhyun buried his face into his hands. He was destroying himself, all because of a petty heartbreak.

Hae Ryung raced from her building all the way to Baekhyun’s. She had no idea how but she made it there in record time. As she skidded to a stop, she saw the bastard talking to their friends. Her breath was still pretty much ragged when she stomped towards them and invaded their circle.

She was livid. It was clear in her eyes that she very much wanted to rip the guy’s head off but at the same time, she was relieved that he was back, that he was indeed okay. She missed him so ing much and she thought that maybe she could give him a tight hug before she ripped his head off.

As their eyes met, she felt her breath leave her lungs. It was like seeing him for a first time. It was like realizing that she was in love with him all over again. “Hae Ryung,” he called out breathlessly. She gasped. How long has it been that he said her name instead of ‘Nabi?’

Her heart had gone into overdrive and she suddenly didn’t know how to act around him. The week of his absence just felt like an eternity. “Nabi?” And she snapped out of it. Her awestruck expression morphed into a glare. She crossed her arms as she approached the guy in angry steps. Baekhyun’s eyes widened just a fraction before he closed them shut and flinched, preparing himself for whatever Hae Ryung was about to do to him.

Everyone else in their circle held their breath as the girl held her fist back. It stayed in the air for a good five seconds before she dropped it and just groaned. “I ing hate you, Byun Baekhyun!” she gritted out and folded her arms again. The boy finally opened his eyes, smiling genuinely. “I missed you too, Nabi,” he said, eyes glazed over with a longing. “So, so much.”

The girl ignored her thumping heart because of how Baekhyun was looking at her. She rolled her eyes. This was making her emotions crash against each other and tornado within her. It was so confusing. Her eyes were narrowed to slits as she watched Baekhyun bite his lip to hold back what she thought was a wide grin.

He took a step closer to her, slowly hold his hands out to possibly hug her but she was too mad to accept that (kind of.) She backed away from him. “You survived about a week without me. I think another wouldn’t hurt.” And she stomped away.

Just as her stomps became quicker, she felt a presence catch up to her. “Nabi,” Baekhyun whined and grabbed her. “Wait! I have my reasons for leaving so suddenly.” She shrugged his hands off and fixed her bag strap. “I’m sure you do. I just don’t want to hear it,” she muttered as she continued to stomp away.

Baekhyun started to whine again, blocking her way this time. Hae Ryung groaned at his chest before looking up at his pouty face. “I’ll tell you everything. I promise! Just calm down for a second.” The girl bore holes right into his eyes and Baekhyun held her gaze, clearly not wanting to back down until he gets what he wants.

Hae Ryung wanted to remain furious. Baekhyun is just so stupid. Why does he keep disappearing these days? What is wrong with him and why does she feel so felt in the dark? Her other friends knew more about what’s going on with him than she did and that honestly hurt her.

But even with all this annoyance and feeling of unfairness, she found herself sighing, completely giving into to him. She rigid shoulders relaxed, her gaze dropping as she nodded her head. She couldn’t see his face but she can sense the smile spreading on his lips.

She looked up briefly to glare at him. True enough, he was smiling. He took a deep breath and held his arms out. Hae Ryung scoffed at him for a moment and crossed her arms. Baekhyun smiling lips pouted again and she just hated how her insides melted with such a tiny gesture.

Rolling her eyes, she took his stupid hand. Baekhyun smiled triumphantly as they started to walk without a word. She had no idea where they were going. He didn’t say anything but she found herself being led to the parking lot. Her eyebrows furrowed. “Where are we going?” she finally asked.

Baekhyun seemed to perk up that she was finally talking now. He gripped her hand a little tighter. “Hangang river. It’s a lovely day for a stroll and maybe a bike ride too,” he cheerfully told her, opening up the door of passenger’s seat for her. Hae Ryung flashed him odd look. “But I have classes.”

“And so do I,” Baekhyun so simply replied as he lightly pushed the girl inside. Hae Ryung didn’t want to go but her body didn’t seem like it wanted to move and get out of his car. As Baekhyun settled in the driver’s seat, she spoke. “Are you suggest that we both skip? You missed a week of class! The head director will kick your if he–”

Her eyes narrowed immediately when Baekhyun covered to shut her up. Seeing her cutely glare at him, the boy couldn’t help but chuckle at her. He slowly brought his hand down. “Talk and I’ll kiss you,” he jokingly threatened, adding his own little glare.

Hae Ryung pressed her lips into a line, mentally cursing how blood seemed to shoot up to her cheeks when he said that. She pivoted, setting her gaze away from him and out the window. “You wouldn’t,” she muttered under her breath with her arms crossed.

“Oh, I would.” Hae Ryung’s eyes widened just a little. She dared turn to look at him, only to find him staring at her. It was that weird gaze again, the one she wasn’t familiar with, the one that held these weird emotions that she couldn’t seem to understand. “W-What?” she pathetically replied, completely dumbfounded of this sudden gaze.

Baekhyun stared at her for a while longer then forced himself to smile. Instead of replying to her, he turned the engine on and looked away.

The four boys and So Eun exchanged looks of utter shock. “What the are you on about, Byun? God, I’m gonna ing kill you! Let go? Let ing go? I can’t even–” Kai let out a hollow and irritated laugh before launching himself at his best friend. The three other boys have blocked his way and pulled him back before he could do Baekhyun any damage.

So Eun just cupped to suppress her screams while Baekhyun just stood still, unfazed with a small smile on his lips. “Get off me!” Kai growled as he shook the guys off of him. He approached the guy again. “You mean to ing tell me that while you were away, giving yourself time to think, you thought that the best thing to do is let her go? Is that it?”

Despite his loud and angry volume, Baekhyun didn’t flinch like everyone else and merely nodded. “So you’re going to throw away your feelings just like that? Like it’s that easy?” Finally, after looking at nothing but the ground for so long, he looked up and met Kai’s furious gaze. 

He had no reply to that. It wasn’t easy. He never expected it to be. He has loved Hae Ryung for so long. He had loved her the moment he laid eyes on her, the moment her head popped out of the bushes when he escaped the bullies, the moment when a beautiful purple butterfly landed on her head before she ran towards him with her face crumpled in worry.

That was years ago. He was in middle school and he had no idea what these feelings even meant but all he knew was that he wanted to see her again. He wanted to be her friend. He didn’t care about all the weird looks he got for peeking into every room to see if it was hers.

He didn’t care if he so pathetically asked for her number from one of her friends during gym. They endlessly about it but he didn’t care. He remembered giddily going home that day, grinning his face off as he stared at her number on his phone screen.

As he was all settled down, ready to study, he would find himself glancing at his phone. At some point, he caved in and just grabbed it. He opened his contacts and stared at her number yet again. ‘Hae Ryung’ was the name of her contact but Baekhyun felt like he should call her something else, something more special, something that only he could call her.

He bit his lip as his eyes rolled up to stare at the ceiling. “Aha!” he whispered to himself and changed her contact name. He stared at the screen again, his heart suddenly fluttering for some weird reason. “Nabi,” he tested the name out. It was nice. It perfectly fit her. Hae Ryung was beautiful after all. She’s mesmerizing to watch, timid and delicate but hard to catch and hard to reach.

He didn’t know what came over him but before going to bed that night, he mustered up enough courage to actually call her. His heart was beating like crazy as he counted the rings. He didn’t know how long it has been since he waited but he figured that she would never pick it up.

He wouldn’t too if it was an unknown number calling him. Sighing, he pulled the phone away from his ear but before he could press end, he heard her voice. “Hello? Who is this?” he heard her say. The disappointment he felt was flushed and replaced with excitement that had him stumbling over his words.

“Sorry? I-I can’t understand…” Hae Ryung shyly said and Baekhyun could already imagine the adorable confused look on her face. “B-Baekhyun. This i-is Baekhyun,” he finally managed to stutter out. There was a pause, a silence and it almost had him panicking until Hae Ryung said, “Oh! Byun is it? Byun Baekhyun?”

The beating of his heart became so strong it was pounding in his ears too. “Y-Yeah! That’s me.” There was another pause. The boy face palmed then buried his face into his pillow. He didn’t know what else to say anymore but he oddly didn’t want to stop talking. “Well… why are you calling?”

Now it was his turn to stay silent. He had no reason really. He just wanted to try it out and find out if it was really her number. Now that that’s confirmed, what else was his purpose? Without much thought and with a slight panic overwhelming him, he hung up without a word at all.

Baekhyun groaned as he threw his phone to his side table. That was so stupid! What was that? Why did he rudely hang up on her when he was the one who called her out of nowhere in the first place?