Baekhyun blinks and suddenly he’s back in the dim corridor. At the end of the hall, Hera’s still there smiling at him. As if he needed anything more to confuse him at the moment, a name suddenly comes to mind and it quietly slips off his lips right as the beating of his heart drowns out the world around them.

“Soon...deok…”

***

“What the heck,” Hera mumbles quietly with his post it note fumbling around in her hands. “You were just going to leave without saying anything?”

Baekhyun swallows but his chest continues to heat up more and more by the second. Still, he plays it cool and pulls out a teasing smile for her. “I left you a note.” His eyes flicker to the note in her hands. When he tries to meet her eyes, his heart hurdles and his gaze drops instantly. “W-what are you still doing here? Tsh,” he scoffs. “And you were the one always nagging me to go home early.”

Hera makes a face at him. “Who’s telling who? It’s nearly three in the morning and the both of us are still here.”

“I was actually on my way home,” Baekhyun corrects sassily and it throws him off because he can’t quite understand where all this sass is suddenly coming from.

She smiles wordlessly at him from down the hall because it felt so great and comforting to see him again after so long. Through the dim light, Baekhyun finally is able to meet her eyes and he keeps them there. The two say nothing as their eyes try to decipher the space between them and how comforting the silence is.

Her heart twitches and she lowers her gaze to the note for a split moment before slipping it into her back pocket. “Then,” Hera turns back to Baekhyun with a smile full of yearning and warmth. “Good night, Byun PD.”

His eyes soften as Hera turns to return back to the studio. “Hera.” She stops in her steps and swivels back to him ever so slightly. “It’s late. Whatever you’re doing, you can finish it tomorrow when you come back. I’ll take you home.” He stops her when she’s about to refuse. “I’ll be waiting outside the back exit.”

***

“How do you like it?” Baekhyun asks on the drive home with Hera warmly tucked in his passenger seat. The dark sky was already beginning to lighten up at the horizon but the two of them were just heading home now.

Hera tilts her head so she can watch the buildings blur by outside the window. “It’s fun. I’m learning lots of things and everyday is different. I like it a lot.”

Baekhyun smiles but Hera doesn’t catch it. “That’s good. It feels nice to have my studio all nice and quiet again instead of it being filled with your snoring.”

Hera turns to him with a gasp. “I do not snore!”

“Whatever you say Hera,” he laughs quietly as she sinks into the seat with a frown.

After dropping Hera off and returning home, Baekhyun was in the middle of changing into some comfortable clothes when the image of Hera standing in the bathhouse flashes over his eyes. He takes a moment to analyze the illusion and his eyes set on the boat in the water again. Right then, something clicks and the image sizzles away again like smoke in the sky.

“Game,” he mumbles out loud as he stood, frozen in his walk in closet. “Boat racing game…”

It takes him a second but when Baekhyun realizes what he’d just said, he shakes his head and blinks hard. A million questions are running through his mind but he doesn’t know why he’s questioning things when it’s just probably him seeing things due to exhaustion. He shakes his head again and tosses the towel around his neck into the laundry hamper before leaving his closet to dive into the comfort of his bed. Turning his head slightly to the nightstand, Baekhyun decides to skip out on his nighttime readings and get some shut eye instead since it was getting closer to four in the morning now. It only takes a few minutes for him to fall asleep but much like Hera who lightly snores, people have their own sleeping habits which they’re most likely not aware of. Baekhyun’s been told many times he mumbles and groans right before he sleeps but unlike other nights, tonight he fell asleep while quietly calling a name subconsciously over and over and over.

“... Deok-ah… Soondeok-ah…”

***

It was a big day for Hera. TaeTiSeo were finally filming for their music video and Heejin wanted Hera there no matter what. She was on location by six and spent most of her time arranging the set or making last minute changes. Hera can’t put it into words how it feels to see her vision come to life, especially on such a high scale level and it still blows her mind that Heejin allowed her to be so involved in the process.

Around half past noon, filming was paused for lunch which was prepared by a few TaeTiSeo fansites. As she was queuing up for food with some of the staff members, a pat on her shoulder gets her attention and she turns just as Chanyeol is trying to duck down from her view. He freezes once he realizes he’s been caught and Hera laughs as Baekhyun comes up from behind to smack him in the head with a folder.

“Well,” he straightens himself and clears his throat. “Now we all know you have fast reflexes.”

“She’s skilled in Shaolin martial arts,” Baekhyun warns. “So don’t mess with her.”

Hera smirks when Chanyeol turns to her with wide eyes. “When did you two arrive? Just now?”

Chanyeol pushes her lightly to move along before passing her a tray. “We’ve been here all morning, you were just too busy running around to notice.”

Hera turns to Baekhyun and he nods in agreement without looking up from the files in his folder. She nods slowly then before directing her attention to the trays of food. Her stomach growled with each scoop she put on her plate and she just couldn’t wait to devour it. She somehow ended up sitting with Chanyeol and Baekhyun but Hera noticed he didn’t stay for long after checking his phone. He looked a bit distressed but with so many people around, she didn’t want to ask so she continued her conversation with Chanyeol, pretending to be oblivious about Baekhyun.

After lunch, Hera joined Heejin in the dressing room and assisted with some of the styling. While Hera helped a stylist pin Seohyun’s shirt in for a better fit, Seohyun couldn’t help but admire how far she’s come since their first meeting. Tiffany leaves first to film her solo shots and everyone in the room begins to sizzle out after her, leaving Hera and Seohyun alone because Taeyeon suddenly vanished again. Hera was still laughing over their selfies when Seohyun came back to her with an ice coffee in hand.

“You’re gonna need it,” Seohyun explains when Hera reaches for it. “There’s some issues with the lighting so filming is delayed.”

Sighing, Seohyun sinks into the couch next to Hera and sips on her ice coffee. “Are you having fun?”

Hera nods. “So much fun. It’s very rare to get such an exclusive experience like this. It’s tiring at times but I love it.”

Seohyun smiles warmly. “To be honest, I was really worried when you first came,” she reveals. “Coordinator Kim had arranged for you to work at the front desk and there is literally nothing creatively exciting about that so I felt bad getting you this internship for you to only land behind a desk.” She breathes a sigh of relief. “But thankfully, Byun PD offered to have you intern for him.”

Wide eyed and in shock, Hera diverts her full attention to Seohyun. “What?”

“You didn’t know?” Seohyun pauses to take a sip of her coffee. “Coordinator Kim came after you left thinking you were still with me and told us where he’d assigned you. Byun PD said it didn’t make sense for you to be assigned there. After we had a little chat, he offered to have you intern for him while we tried to find you an opportunity in the advertising department.”

“So,” Hera takes a moment to let all the sudden revealings sink in. “This makes sense.” She gasps slowly as Seohyun chuckles quietly beside her. “He kept telling me to take notes whenever someone was recording, to take careful notes of what type of feelings, emotions or image the artists wanted to convey.” She nods slowly. “It all makes sense. He wanted me to take those notes for myself. The presentation… was that all planned?”

Seohyun shakes her head. “No, we were all quite surprised ourselves when he announced that at the meeting but I understood his intentions.” She quickly sits up and places a hand on Hera’s lap. “Let me just say this incase you start overthinking things, we didn’t pick yours because we felt like we owed you. We picked yours because we genuinely liked your concept the most.”

A wave of emotions suddenly takes over Hera and she lowers her gaze when the tears start coming. Seohyun smiles warmly and tries to comfort her by rubbing her back.

“Hera, you’ve worked really hard for everything you’ve achieved. We didn’t do anything really, your hard work got you here.”

Hera turns to Seohyun and tosses her arm over the singer. “Thank you for believing in me. Thank you, really.”

Seohyun chuckles. “You’re extremely talented and that’s the least I could do for such a good friend.”

After finding out the story behind her intern position, Hera set out to find Baekhyun before filming was resumed but failed to find him anywhere. She searched all the trailers, dressing rooms and even circled around the main filming area several times but did see him anywhere. Once she was sure he wasn’t inside the studio, Hera stepped outside in hopes of finding him lounging around somewhere.

“Park PD,” called when she spotted the tall producer lingering in the parking lot. He turns to her and smiles as she approaches him. “Have you seen Byun PD anywhere? I can’t seem to find him.”

“Ah, Byun PD,” Chanyeol purses his lips. “He left already. He had somewhere to go so he left.” Hera can’t help but frown and of course, Chanyeol notices. “Is something wrong?”

Hera quickly shakes her head. “No, I just wanted to ask him something. Thanks though.”

With a nod, Hera dismisses herself and quickly returns inside in case Heejin needed her.

***

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