Before Hera can come to any assumptions, the sound of Chanyeol calling her name snaps Hera out of the moment and she she turns to him immediately to avoid looking at Baekhyun.

“Who’s your friend here?” Chanyeol asks Hera although his eyes are locked on with Wendy’s. If you looked carefully, you could probably see the electric currents traveling between them.

Wendy doesn’t wait for Hera to do the introductions and instantly extends a hand out towards Chanyeol. “I’m Wendy Son Seunghwan, most people call me Wendy but you can call me whatever you like. Born and raised in Toronto. Senior at Dongguk, single, and you are?”

Baekhyun leans into Hera and usually she wouldn’t notice, but this time she notices how all the goosebumps on her neck react to his hot breath that’s hovering near her ear.

“D-did she just slip in that she’s single?” Baekhyun whispers.

Hera makes an attempt at a nod as she tries to casually slip away from Baekhyun. She couldn’t quite understand why her body was suddenly reacting so oddly to him.

“Nice to meet you,” Chanyeol pauses to take her hand. “Wendy. I’m Park Chanyeol, another producer at SM. I focus more on the Chinese leg. So, how do you know Hera?”

Wendy smiles as she raises a hand to tuck a slither of hair behind her ear. Typical girl move. “We met when we were studying abroad in Minnesota during high school. We became close fairly quickly and decided to study in Korea together for college.”

Chanyeol nods, his eyes unwavering from Wendy’s and it was obvious that the two had completely forgotten about Hera and Baekhyun. “That’s awesome,” he awes before Baekhyun cuts into their little world with a loud intentional cough.

“I’ve heard lots of great things about you Wendy,” Baekhyun chirps. “How about we grab some lunch to celebrate?”

He turns to Hera who surprises him by shaking her head. “Uh,” Hera clears . “We actually just had lunch and we have another class. I think it’s best if we go. Thanks though.” Before Wendy can refute, Hera grabs her by the wrist and drags her towards the door. “See you guys tomorrow.” She tosses in a quick bow at the two producers then flees out the door before they could stop them, pulling Wendy along like a lost child.

***

“You didn’t tell me that the Producers were so handsome,” Wendy says after they reached their bus stop. “Whaaa. SM is really no joke. Not only are their artists all beautiful, even their staff members are exceptionally gorgeous. You’ve really hit the jackpot Hera.”

Hera couldn’t hear anything Wendy was saying. She couldn’t get the image of her vision out of her head and even now, Baekhyun’s voice is still so clear in her ears.

“Why should we die at all? Lets… live together!”

“Prince!”

“HERA!”

She snaps her head at Wendy who seems to have been calling her for a while now. “Yeah, sorry. I was zoning out. What were you saying?”

“Obviously you were,” Wendy snickers. “I said, you and Byun PD seem very close and comfortable with each other. Is he single?”

Hera nudges her in the shoulder. “He’s my boss, we keep things strictly work related.”

Wendy raises an unconvincing brow at Hera. “Uh huh. Didn’t seem like that when you two were all entangled together earlier.”

“What are you talking about?” Hera shakes her off with a snort. “I think it’s appropriate to give my boss a hug since he was the one who made this opportunity possible.”

“Yeah, I agree with you on that,” Wendy adds. “But that hug between you two? Girl, he lifted you off the ground and had his chin digging into your shoulder and all that. You guys looked like reunited long distance lovers at the airport.”

Hera stops walking and turns to Wendy with wide eyes. “What. That never happened.”

Wendy laughs. “I saw it with my own eyes, Hera. You were probably too excited to notice. But you guys would make a cute couple.”

Wendy somehow causally shifts the conversation to Chanyeol but by that time, Hera is already lost in her own thoughts of Baekhyun, the present one and the one in the royal robes.

***

You’d expect Hera to be a little more skeptical after having such a vivid and authentic vision but none of that was in her head as she rushed to the company after class the following day. Her Victoria Secret effortless waves were still intact and ready to captivate Johnny in any way possible. Before entering the studio, Hera takes one last moment to do a little fix here and there, double checking to see that she doesn’t have any food in her teeth and that she didn’t have a stain on her clothes or anything. But then the door opens and a familiar yet unexpected face greets her with a sly grin.

“Hi Hera,” Sehun teases with his eyes in mischievous slits. “Surprised?”

She blinks then pushes the door wider to get to get an explanation from Baekhyun but he keeps his eyes on the monitor because Junmyeon was in the middle of recording.

“We switched with NCT,” Sehun explains with Hera still unable to believe her current reality. “There was a mix up in scheduling because we’re supposed be in Japan next week so we switched with NCT. Sorry you couldn’t see your Johnny.”

Hera sends a hand into Sehun’s torso and it knocks the air right out of him. Sehun comes by the studio often enough to know of her fangirl crush on Johnny and spends every moment possible teasing her about it. Not many people would dare smack EXO’s precious maknae Oh Sehun but they’ve somehow declared war on each other some time ago so Hera has no hesitation when she feels Sehun needs a nice little reminder not to mess with her.

“Yah,” Sehun heaves a breath with his hands clutching at his abdomen. “I’m EXO you know.” He in another breath. “I have 7.9 million followers and counting on instagram.”

She rolls her eyes and stomps past him to plop onto the couch in disappointment. Looking up at the calendar, she notices all the NCT recording sessions crossed out and replaced with EXO until the following week.

“Hyung,” Sehun whines through a weak grunt. “Hera hit me.”

“You started it,” Baekhyun reprimands without even bothering to move an inch from the monitor. “Shouldn’t you be learning your lines instead?”

He scowls at Hera who returns it right back. Snatching his lyrics off the table, he seats himself on the opposite end of the couch and makes her completely irrelevant so he could focus on his lines. After a few minutes of pretending, Sehun throws a peek at Hera from behind his papers and frowns when she finds her looking so disappointed. Even though it wasn’t his fault that the schedules were mixed up, he slightly feels bad for rubbing it into her face earlier.

“Yah.” He nudges her shin with the tip of his shoe. Hera doesn’t look up and turns away instead. “You want bubble tea? I’ll buy.”

“Don’t be nice to me,” Hera mumbles with her eyes down casted on her hands in her lap. “It’s weird.”

Baekhyun snorts from his seat, he couldn’t help but eavesdrop on the two. “Sorry,” he laughs again. “Carry on.”

“Byun PD,” Hera calls quietly from her seat. “Do you have anything for me to do?”

While Junmyeon is taking a moment to correct his line, Baekhyun swirls around in his chair to Hera. “No, just try not to kill Sehun but I do need to talk to you about something important later.”

She tries to meet his eyes but Baekhyun turns away before she can and it sends an unsettling feeling into Hera’s stomach.

***

“Today’s your last day with me,” Baekhyun reveals once it was just the two of them left in the studio. Hera loo