“I understand now, Professor.”

Professor Kim looks up from her tea at a distraught Baekhyun seated across from her. She exhales slowly through her nose and sets her cup down with sympathetic eyes. “Love is an extremely powerful emotion and there was no way I could explain or describe to you the amount of love and regret The Prince had for his wife. You had to experience it for yourself again.”

Baekhyun bites down on his jaw whenever he thinks of how beautiful their last morning was. It’s just so unfair. This world is just so unfair.

“He was a foolish man, Wang Eun,” Baekhyun says with a hint of bitterness.

“He was indeed,” Professor Kim agrees. “But he was a good person, an honest person. He saw the good in everybody but easily was manipulated. But now fate is in your hands, Baekhyun-shi. What will your decision be?”

Baekhyun snaps away from his thoughts when Hera returns from the kitchen with a tray of coffee and muffins. She sets a cup in front of him and he thinks back to the juice incident with Haesoo.

“I’m sorry for suddenly showing up and worrying you,” he says as she slips into the sofa.

“It’s okay,” she dismisses quietly. “Did you… perhaps have another dream?” His eyes flicker up at her and Hera slightly tenses up. “Was it a bad one?”

He swallows and looks down at his hands. “No. I just dreamt of The King passing, that’s all.”

Hera nods with empathetic eyes because she can recall how distraught Eun was when Soondeok prevented him from greeting his father for the last time. She bites down into her muffin without a clue of how much it hurts for Baekhyun to just be sitting in the same room as her at the moment. She doesn’t know how much Eun loved her, not even to the slightest bit. There’s so much she doesn’t know and it’s killing Baekhyun all over again because he can’t tell her. Until Hera figures it out herself, Baekhyun can’t tell her that he loved her so much he begged his brother to take his life so she wouldn’t have to go alone.

“How’s falling in love with Youngho going?” There’s a pinch in his chest as he asks her the dreaded question.

Hera her upper lip clean of crumbs and purses her lip like a child. “I don’t know…”

“I don’t know as in he doesn’t like you or I don’t know as in you don’t know if it’s going to work out?” At this point, her answer really didn’t matter anymore to him. He already made up his mind on what he’s going to do.

Her lip protrudes more as she sinks deeper into the couch. “He told me he likes me… and I like him too it’s just…” She bites down on her bottom lip before a switch flicks in her eyes and she straightens up as she clears . “Why am I telling you this? You’re like… my boss…”

Baekhyun manages to snicker as he watches her cheeks grow redder and redder. “I’m a bit hurt you only see me as your boss still. I thought I was at least a friend, I mean we were married a thousand years ago for god’s sake. You even call Chanyeol, “Oppa” now while I’m still “Byun PD.” I’m hurt.”

Hera flares her nostrils at him but he finds it to be cute. “That’s because he’s dating my best friend. For someone who works as a producer for one if not the biggest entertainment label in South Korea, he sure does have a lot of time.”

“He likes her, a lot. I haven’t seen him this happy over someone in the longest time,” Baekhyun reveals through a chuckle. “But anyways, as I was saying. Can I at least get on the same level as Chanyeol?”

Hera blinks innocently. “You’re gonna need to grow like half a foot.” Baekhyun drops his head in defeat and she laughs. “I have a feeling there’s another reason why you came here.”

He runs a hand through his hair and sighs. “The Eun in me just really wanted to hold Soondeok. He wanted to say sorry.”

She a brow. “Sorry about what?”

Baekhyun drops his gaze. “There’s lots of things he’s sorry for. I don’t know myself but he’s sorry.”

She leans back on the couch and looks down at her hands in her lap. “Is that all he wants? If I forgive him, will it be enough?”

It’s not the question itself but the way Hera asked it that throws Baekhyun off. No, it’s not enough. It’s not enough because sorry isn’t enough and her forgiveness isn’t what he wants.

Baekhyun bites down on his jaw and lifts his gaze up again. “I guess we’ll find out, won’t we?”

***

After spending majority of the day assisting Heejin in a shoot with SMROOKIES, Hera was enjoying some downtime in the SUM cafe when Chanyeol walks by with Taeyeon and a senior SM producer who has worked in the company since the H.O.T days. She instantly gets up to greet them before Taeyeon walks over to join her after bidding the other two goodbye.

“Working hard or hardly working?” Taeyeon teases as she slips into the empty chair across from Hera.

Hera shoots her a cute pout and plops down into her seat. “I was shooting all morning up until now. Give me a break will ya.”

Taeyeon laughs and leans over to rest her elbow on the table. “When is your internship over?”

“I have a little over a month left.” Hera sighs at the thought of leaving the company. Life is going to be so boring afterwards. How do you go from hanging out with Korea’s top idols to being a broke college student again.

Nodding slowly, Taeyeon purses her lips. “I guess I’m too late then…”

Hera raises an eyebrow at the sudden statement. “Too late for what?”

“I’m actually finishing up on my next solo album and I had wanted to ask you to work on a concept for it but it’s not scheduled for release for another six months,” Taeyeon reveals. “Don’t leave us Hera! We love you here!”

“I’ll do it!” Hera exclaims excitedly. Working with TaeTiSeo was amazing but to be personally asked by Taeyeon herself is such an honor and an opportunity she can’t give up no matter what. “Even if I have to work day and night without sleep, I’ll do it!”

Taeyeon laughs because she likes the twinkle of innocence in her eyes. “No, no. I don’t want you to do that. I’m going to have to cut the cord with you someday and somehow and I don’t want you working harder than you already are.”

Hera shakes her head cutely with a pout. “No, I really want to.” She digs out her notepad and pen and turns to Taeyeon excitedly. “Let’s talk concepts.”

“You’re serious?” Taeyeon gawks at her. “Seriously, Hera. I know you have your hands full. You really don’t have to do this.”

“No, I really want to,” Hera insists with her pen tapping on the yellow notepad.

Sighing, Taeyeon sits up in her seat and leans over on the table with a small smile. “Okay, fine. LaLa Land. The colors, the clothes, the cinematography, the whole entire vibe. I want it.”

Hera quickly jots that down and already, her head is bursting with endless ideas.

***

“Taeng Unnie asked me to work on her album concept today,” Hera announces as she prances around the small recording studio. She grabs some of the music sheets off the counter by where Baekhyun is seated and idly flips through it as he continues clicking away.

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