Sunday morning was met with 16 texts from Soo Ji. She wanted to practice for the duet since we had wasted a whole week and there were only a few days till the school festival. I had called her up and she seemed to be on the verge of a panic attack. 

"Baekhyun, there's no time left at all!" She said. "We have to practice all day today or else it'll be a complete disaster on Saturday!" 

"Okay, where are we going to practice anyway?" I asked.

"Don't you have a piano at your place?" She said.

"No."

"Chanyeol?"

"No." 

"Oh my God!" She whined. "This is a disaster already!"

"Calm down, okay?" I said. "I'll talk to Chanyeol and let you know in a couple of minutes."

I hung up and Chanyeol looked up from his phone. He was in my room, sprawled on the bed watching a movie he had downloaded. 

"Ask me what?" He said.

"Soo Ji wants to practice today," I said.

"But it's Sunday!" I frowned. How much whining will I have to tolerate today?

"I know but it's important," I said. "I am nervous about the performance as it is. I don't want to mess it up."

"Oh, okay. If you want then let's go." He sat up. "Where are we practicing?"

"Yeah, that's kind of the problem." I explained. "We don't have anywhere to practice." 

"Then... what are we doing?" He said slowly.

"Do you know someplace we could practice?" I said. "We just need a piano. We can practice in alleys like that drama Page Turner." 

"Alleys?" He blinked. "You're so weird, Baek. We can go to Suho's." 

"Oh, right." I muttered. "I'll tell Soo Ji to be there in..?"

"Twenty minutes," he answered. "It's not far." 

It wasn't but Chanyeol insisted we stop for bubble tea on the way. Apparently, he was craving. 

"But we don't have the time!"

"I went with you to buy Oreos!" He was giving me those sad puppy eyes and I had to agree. 

We went to his favourite store and saw that it was very crowded. 

"Chanyeol, this is gonna take too long!" I said. "Soo Ji will kill us." 

"No, she won't." He said and joined the line. "Which one do you want? Chocolate is nice." 

"Please. I'm not some chocolate obsessed freak like you," I muttered as I joined him. "Umm... Vanilla, I guess." 

"Vanilla is so boring," Chanyeol huffed. 

"I like boring," I answered. 

It took us about fifteen minutes to get our bubble tea. By the time we were leaving, Soo Ji had called us thrice. I was pretty sure she would murder me as soon as I got to Suho's house.

No. Not house. Mansion. 

There was a butler sort of a guy who lead us past the main building to another behind it. 

"That's where Suho lives," Chanyeol said. "His parents live in the other building." 

I nodded, taking in everything around me. There were lush, ornate gardens and they were so startlingly green that I forgot for a moment that we were in the middle of winter right now. I also counted five cars. The butler lead us inside the building and up a set of stairs. On the first landing, he opened the door and we entered what I am going to go ahead and call Suho's bachelor pad. 

No, really. Everything was either white or a really rich shade of brown. There was a pool table to my right, and a bunch of arcade games to my left. There was a coke dispenser, a huge double door fridge, a 56 inch flat TV on one of the walls and a shiny black grand piano. 

Lounging in front on the TV were Suho and Soo Ji, their eyes closed and faces blissful as they relaxed on a couple of massage chairs. I cleared my throat and Soo Ji's eyes flew open. 

"Ah, finally." She pressed a button on the arm of the chair and got up. "Let's start." 

Suho waved a polite hello at the two of us. 

"I'll just sit here and listen," he said. "You guys don't mind, right?" 

"Nah," Chanyeol said and went over to the piano. I did mind though. Suho, even though one person, still made an audience. His entire focus would be on us; me. I was going to mess up.  

We started the practice and I felt that strange tickling sensation in the pit of my stomach. The first few lines were mine and I was very glad when my part was over. The fact that it was a duet, meant that I had a few seconds to relax in between lines. Whenever my parts came up, I would try to focus on something but it didn't help. I was too nervous. I wasn't doing my best. Soo Ji, however didn't feel so. She said she was glad I had agreed to do this with her. We practiced for an hour and a half and then took a short break. For like five minutes.

"I wanted to decide our stage positions as well," Soo Ji said. "Then we can practice performing. We've already got the song down." 

"Yeah, sure." I nodded. 

We discussed ideas for a while and in the end it was decided that Soo Ji and I would sit on high stools in the middle of the stage completely facing the audience, while the piano would be a bit tilted so that Chanyeol was simultaneously facing us and the audience. 

"What about the costumes?" Chanyeol asked.

"Oh, I was thinking maybe you two could wear a suit?" She pointed at Chanyeol and me. "I've already decided my dress." 

"Suits?" I said. "I thought we were gonna perform in our uniforms." 

"No. Not at all. Anyway I'll ask people from the music club to stay back for a while after practice tomorrow," Soo Ji said and packed up her things, ready to leave. "Get the feel of it, yeah?" 

I only nodded. Suho and Chanyeol were going to play video games afterwards and Suho invited me to. He looked a bit apprehensive when he talked to me. I was confused at first but then I remembered that he was there at the party on Friday. Should I thank him or something? But he didn't bring it up and neither did I.

"I promised I would meet up with D.O today," I said. I hadn't but I had my reasons.

"Really?" Chanyeol said. "Want me to go with you?" 

"No, it's fine." I said. "It's only a few blocks down." 

Chanyeol frowned and was about to protest but I waved goodbye and left.
I didn't want Chanyeol worrying about me so I tried to pretend I was all cool and calm about what had happened on Friday now that I had kicked Yixing and ended things with him. But it was quite the opposite. Yesterday, I was mad at Yixing so I didn't really think much about it but now was a totally different tale. I had hardly been able to sleep last night and when my Mom came to wake me up in the morning, I didn't wake up straight away. She shook my shoulders gently and that snapped me out of my sleep. For a moment, I was so disoriented that I didn't register that it was my Mom. In my haste, I actually slapped her hand away from me and shifted further away. I was sweating and breathing so hard that my Mom thought I had a bad dream. When we were in the line getting bubble tea, I had jumped pretty obviously when I felt a hand brush against my back. It was an accident because when I turned around, it was a girl who was pretty much engrossed in conversation with her friend and even apologised when she saw me looking. "It's so damn crowded today," she had said. 

All of a sudden, I was conscious of every look and stare that I got from people on the streets. Even fleeting glances began to bother me. 

Most of all, I felt sort of... tainted. I had spent an abnormally long time in the shower today, washing my hair and scrubbing hard at the skin until it was almost red. And even then I felt unclean. 

That's why I wanted to meet up with D.O. He was the only person I could tell. If I said a single word to Chanyeol, he wouldn't let me out of his sight. Mom was completely out of question. That only left D.O and as a matter of fact, I did prefer to tell him, anyway. He always had his emotions under control. He'd help me. And even though I'd told him I'd see him on Monday, I couldn't wait that long. All this thinking was too much for my brain to handle. Besides, I don't think I could have talked to him at school in front of everyone anyway.

When I got to his home, I saw him in the lawn outside, watering the plants. It was almost four and I had no clue why he was doing it now. I raised my eyebrows when D.O looked up and saw me enter. 

"I'm bored." He said simply. "Finished Thermodynamics and i didn't feel like starting a new chapter so I thought I'd water the plants."

"It's so cold out though," I said. Today was actually a bit sunny than most days, but still too cold. 

"You're right," he said. "I think I'll do this later." 

He told me go and wait in his bedroom while he put away the watering can. He came back after ten minutes, a tray laden with a few slices of fruit cake and two tall glasses filled with orange juice. He placed them on the table and said, "Help yourself." 

"Thanks, Shizuka," I said as I reached for a slice of cake. 

"Does that make you Nobita?" D.O said. "Or Doraemon?"

"Ha, ha." I said. "You were talking about watching a movie, right?"

"Yeah, there was this flick." He said. "Jo Jung Suk and Park Shin Hye. It's called Hyung but then you said you didn't want to see it so I went and watched it with Jongdae and So Hyunah." 

"Oh," I said. "How was it?" 

"Okay. I almost cried." He shrugged. "Anyway, why weren't you at school on Friday?" 

Now that I had the perfect opening to tell him, I was scared. Would D.O start treating me differently? Would he think I was tainted as well? I looked at him and he had his eyebrows raised, a curious expression on his face. I took a deep breath and started. 

By the time, I was done with my little tale, D.O had got up from his bed twice, walked around the room and sat back down again. He always opened his mouth to say something in between but then immediately shut it. He cracked a smile when I told him how I had pelted Yixing with eggs and then frowned when I told him about the things that had happened today. 

"Look, Baekhyun," he started. "It's not your fault. I mean I get that you're scared but tainted... You're not- I mean- Yixing is a really ty person if he did that, okay? You just trusted the wrong person." 

"But-" 

"It could have happened to anyone!" He said. "I bet there are plenty of date victims out there. It's not unheard of." D.O, I realised, had started panicking now. He was on the debate team last year and I had seen him lay out arguments so systematically, you'd think he had been working for months on them. But now he was just rushing to get his words out. "Baek, it's not you who should be ashamed! I get you're jumpy and stuff but you'll be okay with time." 

"I've never heard any of this happening to boys." I said softly. 

"The world's a weird place, Baek." He said and offered me another piece of cake. "And Jeong Guk is on the top of that weirdness ladder. You could file a complaint, you know." 

I shook my head. "Too much trouble." He opened his mouth to answer but I cut him off. "Besides, I looked it up last night. Very rare date cases are won by victims because of the whole issue about consent. Plus it's a homoual relation we're talking about. I'd get into trouble for that myself. And, I was only drugged. Not !" 

"You could have been!" D.O exclaimed. "What about a ual harassment case? Get a restraining order or something." 

I shook my head again. "I don't think I'll get anything out of it." 

"So, what are you gonna do?" He said. 

"Nothing," I said. "I'll just be careful from now on." 

"Yeah and end up as a paranoid ahjussi who lives in a single room flat and avoids all sort of human company and carries hand sanitizer every where.!" 

"Hand sanitizer?" 

"Talk to your Mom about it," he paused. "Or maybe not. She'll kill you." 

"I talked to you about it," I said. "I already feel loads better now." 

D.O gave me a smile and said, "Happy to be of service." Then he frowned. "You got into a relationship and you didn't tell me." 

"Yeah that relationship lasted for a day?" I rolled my eyes. "It was over before I could even tell you." 

"I've never even met this guy, though," he muttered. "Wait a minute. You said you've only known him for a little over a week! Baekhyun! How can you be so stupid? Following strangers anywhere!"

"Ah, that was stupid of me." I muttered. "I don't know. I was just going with the flow of things. Everything was happening so fast. I don't know-"

"It's okay." D.O said. "You're young. It's fine if you make mistakes. But- wait a minute. You said everyone thought you were with Chanyeol? I mean people at Sekang are also saying stuff like that. Is it true? Are you two together now?" 

"No, I don't know why that rumour is going around," I said. "But it's very confusing, D.O." 

"What happened?" 

"Chanyeol, he- he said he broke up with his girlfriend because of me." I hadn't thought much about it but now that D.O brought it up, I decided to get his opinion on this. "What's that supposed to mean? He didn't even know me that well back then. He makes me sound like some sort of- I don't know- vixen who steals someone's boyfriend!" 

"It is a bit weird," D.O said. "I mean you don't know a lot about school politics and social hierarchy but it is weird for you two to hang out in the first place. But if he said that, I guess I can sort of understand it." 

"How?"

"He likes you? I think." 

"No way." But then I remembered what he had said yesterday. That I was his safe space. And I began to wonder. "You mean he like likes me?"

"Hmmm, Sekang's jj