commencement.

A creek was heard as the door handle twisted. Her footsteps are light yet the door is making so much noise - what a shame of plan to surprise him. He turns around knowingly and the huge smile he's known for spreads on his face again when she came into his sight. The girl only smiles sheepishly, mostly because her eyes are too busy checking on him - because wow, he's so dazzling! The sun would probably come up all about how envious it is to the shining boy that stands at the corner of the room.

"Oh, great! Been waiting for you all the time." His voice seems to be sweeter than most of the time. Or maybe, it's just the way he looks at her as if she's the most special person in the whole universe. She raised her eyebrow - mostly in disbelief more than confusion. You see, the guy has his own way of joking - something that might have included sarcasm - and surely, the girl didn't found it pretty hilarious.

"For what exactly are you waiting?" Taeyeon asked him and Baekhyun shot a smile that sends butterflies in stomach kind of feel to her. He picked up something from the desk near him before he shows it to her - and that's when she realizes it's just 2 ties.

"Here. Help me pick one between this two." He pleads but he doesn't sound too concerned about it mostly. She went along anyway. One tie is black and another one is blue, both complimenting his suit. It was a perfect one, she might add. The suit itself is black, while the vest inside is blue. Both will do fine, she thought. But apparently, he's so into it until he's this anxious. Or, maybe he's anxious about something else. Something that has to do with his graduation ceremony, it seems.

"Just go with the black one. Black matches your hair well, anyway." She said as she pointed at the tie on his right hand. It seems as if he was about to argue with her, but anything it is that he wants to say died on his tongue.

She should have expected him to actually get a bit troubled wearing it. He has done it countless times since their uniform requires wearing a tie, but anyway, the black haired girl never actually saw him with a proper-worn tie. Most of the time it's messy as hell, the other times, it's as if he just doesn't care about it and would throw it out of the window anytime gladly.

"Here, let me do it for you." 3 steps forward and she's already in front of the boy. She quickly undid the messy tie, before actually trying to tie it properly. His eyes shifts awkwardly - it amuses her so much how much he could get nervous around her one time and the next second, he's teasing her about it. He notices how his fingers keep on tapping the side of his leg and well, that's a habit out of nervousness, it seems.

"Are you that nervous about the ceremony?" She asked him softly. Her hands and eyes are both still focused on doing her job and the boy was rather thankful because well, he's seriously that nervous right now. He could feel his heart pounding heavily, and also, the cold sweats that trickled down.

"I think I am, this is seriously the ending chapter of my high school life and… man, I never know I am this much attached to high school. I mean it a lot so of course, I hate it but I have naturally accepted it as my second home and just, everything felt different from junior high in a much better way-" “Baek, you are rambling.” She cut him off and true enough, he was spitting words so fast that it doesn’t even sound proper on her ears – yet she thinks that’s somehow acceptable, he’s going to have the time of his life in just a few more minutes, one point that pretty much sums up his 18 years of life.

“I’m sorry.” He softly said that it almost came out as a whisper. The tips of his ears turn red. She said nothing about that though. It’s enough of an embarrassment to him that he is nervous, more so if she points it out to him. Not much help. The girl shook her head, an indicator that it was not something for him to be sorry for. She reached for his hand and gently held his securely on hers.

“Just… try to relax, ok? If you can survive this hell of 4 years called school, you can survive an hour of this ceremony just fine. You won’t mess up. Not the ceremony, not the speech.” Taeyeon said and the boy’s eyes widened in terror, “Oh, no! Don’t jinx it! I tend to mess up important events, Tae!” He half-shouted at the girl but Taeyeon couldn’t help but laugh. His words are true.

Once in middle school, back when he’s only 14, there was this one basketball competition. Baekhyun, who was usually known as the ace of the team, instead clumsily sprained his ankle at a very critical team, leading his team to lose. Another time, he messed up a line at a school year end’s recital – what a lucky thing that he was fine enough, so most of the girls are still in awe with him, despite that accidental mistake he made. Taeyeon found it really funny though – how clumsy he is at times.

“Oh come on, Baek. Let’s just go or we’ll never make it to the ceremony in time.” She said, finally tugging on his sleeve and the older one complied after a look at the clock.

--

The ceremony passed by. It’s quieter than she expected. A lot of people gathered. Some of them even need to stand at the side to watch.