[CONTENTID1]Lost[/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2]Chapter Twenty Two[/CONTENTID2]

[CONTENTID3]

Jakyung woke to the sound of pots and pans being shuffled in her kitchen. Her head swam as she slowly regained consciousness, and she gingerly touched her temple. It had been a long time since she had gone on a bender like that, and she was out of practice dealing with the hangover. She vaguely remembered coming back to her apartment last night, and she knew she was with someone, but could, for the life of her remember. She groaned, looking around the living room and wracking her brain for some small hint.

“Yah! Are you awake yet? You’re starting to shake the apartment with your snores.”

Oh. Right.

“I don’t snore, Baekhyun. I think I would know,” she grumbled as she hoisted herself to her feet. She wobbled unsteadily to the kitchen where Baekhyun was rummaging through her fridge.

“Yeah, well I’m sure the neighbors know you snore, and I’m surprised they didn’t call the police to file a noise complaint,” he said, pulling out a carton of eggs. He opened the carton and saw that there was only one sad looking egg inside. “How do you even live? There’s no food here.” He put the carton back in the fridge.

“I eat out a lot,” Jakyung said, trying to move around him for the coffee machine. He pushed her back and shook his head. She glared at him and tried to move past him once again. This time he suddenly grabbed her by the waist and hoisted her over his shoulder. She yelped in surprise, but he managed to keep her limbs from flailing too much and hitting somewhere sensitive. He carried her through the apartment, to her room, to the en suite bathroom, and unceremoniously dumped her in the bathtub. Before she could curse him to high heaven, he the water and watched in amusement as she sputtered like a wet cat in the cold spray of the showerhead.

Jakyung slammed her hand down on the lever, halting the water. “You are a dead man, Byun Baekhyun.” She tried to stand, but that movement, plus the jostling Baekhyun had put her through was a bit more than her body could handle and she ended up leaning over the toilet at the last minute to empty the contents of her stomach. She was surprised to feel gentle hands pull her hair away from her face, and one hand to rub soothing circles on her back.

“Feel better?” Baekhyun asked. His voice was surprisingly soft, and Jakyung nodded quickly before another wave of nausea hit her and she retched again. It took her a whole ten minutes to be done throwing up everything, but when she was finished, Baekhyun handed her a cup of water and a wash cloth so that she could rinse and wipe face.

“Thanks,” she mumbled, feeling much more relieved. Baekhyun shrugged.

“You smelled; that’s what the shower was for. I guess you needed to throw up too. Added bonus,” he grinned cheekily, and danced out of reach as she swatted at him.

“I’ll forgive that because you held my hair back,” she said. It was odd, but she didn’t mind this Baekhyun. He was still annoying and crass, but he was starting to grow on her. Truth be told, even she didn’t know why he was the first she called last night, but it turned out to be a lot of fun.

“Well hurry up and shower, I’m hungry and I’ll starve here if we don’t go get something to eat,” he complained as he walked out of the bathroom. “I’ll drive since you’re clearly still ed up from last night.” He ducked as her dress came flying out of the door before she slammed it shut.

Thirty minutes later, they were in Jakyung’s car, Baekhyun driving them to some restaurant she had never heard of. It vaguely occurred to her that it was Friday, and she had classes, but then she realized she wouldn’t have been able to function even if she had gone. She looked over at Baekhyun and realized that she had never seen him on the campus.

“Don’t you have classes?” She asked, and he glanced at her from the corner of his eyes.

“Of course not,” he scoffed. “Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed that I’m never there?” Jakyung had noticed, but she kept silent.

“I haven’t been there in maybe a year, maybe two? I can’t remember,” he continued. “Why go if I don’t need it?”

“Fair enough,” Jakyung agreed. She didn’t want to press him for a better explanation because she was sure he would go off on a self-absorbed rant about his apparent academic skill. It was too early in the morning for that.

Soon enough, they pulled into the parking lot of a smallish diner that Jakyung had a feeling Baekhyun frequented. He waltzed in as if he owned the place and they sat themselves at a table near the picture window in the front.

“Get anything you want,” Baekhyun said as they examined the menus. Jakyung raised an eyebrow at him. “What? You paid for nearly all my drinks last night; it’s the least I could do.”

“So you do know how to be a gentleman,” Jakyung joked, earning a scowl from Baekhyun. The waiter arrived a few moments later and took down their order. Baekhyun stared at Jakyung as the waiter walked away.

“I know I said to get whatever you wanted, but did you really have to get the whole damn menu?” He asked. Jakyung grinned cheekily.

“You said it yourself; drinks aren’t cheap you know,” she quipped. The food was brought over a few minutes later and they dug in heartily. Halfway through the meal, Jakyung’s phone rang, and she picked it up, not bothering to check who it could be.

“Is this Park Jakyung?” The voice on the other end asked. Jakyung swallowed the bit of waffle she had been chewing.

“Who wants to know?” She asked, her expression immediately hardening. Baekhyun fixed her with a questioning look.

“We know your secret, so don’t think that you’re safe.” The voice was decidedly male, and had a raspy edge to it. Jakyung didn’t recognize it, but she had a hunch it had something to do with her recent discovery about her family.

“Well aren’t you just making me quake in my boots,” she retorted sarcastically. “Look, whatever you think you know – good for you. Expose it, keep it to yourself; whatever. Next time, just don’t call during breakfast. It’s extremely rude.” She hung up promptly and stuffed the phone back into the pocket of her jacket.

“So a stranger just called you,” Baekhyun noted, folding his hands under his chin. “A stranger calls you and threatens you, and you tell them to piss off in probably the most ridiculous way ever. What kind of person are you?”

“One that doesn’t give a .” Jakyung shrugged and finished her waffle as Baekhyun shook his head.

“Hurry up and finish, piggy,” he said and waved the waiter over for the bill. Jakyung ignored him, but quickly finished her meal. They left soon after, and headed back towards the EXO mansion.

“You know, you don’t have to act so tough,” Baekhyun said suddenly. Jakyung kept her eyes on the road, but was set into a firm line.

“I’m not acting tough. I am the toughest girl you know; not that you know many,” her attempted joke fell flat as Baekhyun scoffed wore a serious expression.

“You at hiding things. I was drunk last night, but my memory is fine,” he said. Jakyung stayed silent. “Do you think your apartment cleaned itself? You broke last night. Tell me what to do to fix it.”

Jakyung’s eyes cut towards Baekhyun as she turned down the driveway leading to the mansion. He was looking out of the window, but Jakyung could tell that he was waiting for her answer. Despite his rough tone,