HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BAEKHYUN! :-)

 

 

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I will never make a promise I can’t keep

I promise that your smile ain’t gon’ never leave

Shopping sprees in Paris

Everything 24 carats

Take a look in that mirror

Now tell me who’s the fairest

Is it you? Is it you? Is it me? Is it me?

Say it’s us, say it’s us and I’ll agree, baby

 

 

 

It turned out that in all the years we were apart, Baekhyun had worked his off to become a promising neurologist. He only graduated a few years ago, but had already finished his training period in one of Seoul’s prominent hospital and was now serving as their full time surgeon. He was the youngest doctor in the hospital and everyone looked up to him for his professionalism in spite of his young age. It wasn’t rare for the head of his department to ask my boyfriend to tag along to monitor complex procedures, a sign that Baekhyun was well regarded by the old man.

As for me, I graduated a month ago and was already accepted to teach in one of the private schools I had set my eyes on ever since I knew I wanted to be a teacher. So, yeah, everything was going well.

Well, that night might be an exception.

“Baby, you’re testing my patience, do you know that?” he asked lightheartedly as he undid the buttons of his shirt.

Baekhyun just got home from work and I was staying over to have dinner with his family later on to greet his older brother who was in town. I was just lying on his bed, playing with his iPad and clearly not trying to ignore his words. I really had no idea what he meant by his question and no, of course, I wasn’t trying to ignore my boyfriend.

I continued to focus on my avatar, trying to run from the monster and hitting as many coins as I could possibly hit. It was an effective way to avoid your boyfriend, really, but if your boyfriend was a smartass (and not to mention a gym freak, hence the strength of his arms) neurologist like mine, you might want to think of another way. I didn’t realize he already had his body hovered over me until he snatched the iPad away.

“Hey!” I yelped.

Having none of my protests, he pulled me by my ankle across the bed, toward him. He only stopped when I was completely under him, my butts almost at the end of the bed.

“You ignored all my calls, didn’t even reply any of messages and now that I’m back, you don’t even look at me,” he scrunched up his nose adorably.

He was trying to scold me, but ended up being cute instead and my heart couldn’t take it, but I had to hold my ground. I only sealed my lips together and refused to answer. I made the mistake of returning his gaze and my heart longed for him. This wasn’t what I wanted to happen. Ignoring the want in me to just pull him in for a hug, I rolled over so I could hide my flushed cheeks against the sheets.

I yelped again when he s his arms around my waist and pulled me up. He turned around on his heel and sat himself on the bed, carrying me all the while. He settled me on his lap, side-facing him. My breath hitched. At times such as this, I disliked him visiting the gym so often because he was becoming so strong and it was sending wrong signals to the naughty side of my brain and I couldn’t deal with all these hormones giving me ideas. Baekhyun with his shirt undone, looking borderline angry and serious, and his hair a little messy from running his hand through it multiple times was not a good combination for my heart either. He looked so y it was almost sinful. I was supposed to be angry, but how could I when he was so distracting.

He called my name, squeezing my waist a little to pull me back to my senses. He was so close and smelled so good and he just came from eight hours of work. He was not human, that much I could say.

“Baby,” he caressed the top of my thigh and kissed the side of my head.

I really tried to stay angry, but I couldn’t and that got me pouting. He knew then that it wasn’t something very serious. He leaned in closer and pecked me on my lips, smiling. Then, I completely surrendered. My hands went around his neck naturally as I turned around in his lap so I could face him, embrace him. Still smiling, he leaned closer until our lips met again. I started with short pecks, wanting them to be light and flirty, but my boyfriend took them a notch higher, nudging me to open up so he could devour what was his.

“What has got my baby sulking like this, hmm?” he asked, still peppering kisses on the side of my neck.

“I went to your office today,” I started. He hummed and pulled away, not forgetting to tuck a few strands of hair away from my face.

“When I was walking past your colleagues’ cubicles, they were talking about you,” I said. I recalled the inconvenient episode in my head and my scowl appeared involuntarily.

“ually,” I paused and looked at him dead in the eyes. “And it made me very uncomfortable,” I complained.

He raised his eyebrows curiously, signaling me to continue so I did.

“At first, they were complimenting your skills, saying how awesome you were that morning for helping Dr. Shim with the surgery and everything, but then there was this one nurse who kept squealing whenever the others were talking about you. She squealed and squealed and I knew she was trouble by the way she sighed in relief. And all of a sudden she was talking about your butts! Your butts, Baekhyun!” I shrieked dramatically.

He sniggered at my overreaction and was about to say something when I glared at him for laughing at me. He had to suppress another snigger by bringing his head down so I couldn’t see how much he wanted to laugh.

“And, oh, there was this other nurse who joined the circle a little later and she claimed that you had asked her out for a special dinner tonight. I was surprised, but I knew she was lying, but their whole conversation just ticked me off and I was so annoyed, but I also didn’t want to be mad at you because I believe you, but they were just so frustrating!” I continued on, letting out my thoughts to my boyfriend.

He only smiled this time and looked at me straight in the eyes. Even after almost a year of being back together, I always rendered shy every time he stared at me as if I were the only one in his eyes.

“So… you ignored all my calls and messages only because there were nurses who spoke highly of my butts and handsomeness when you dropped by my office this afternoon?” he asked, confirming.

“Ye―,” I paused in my reply. Now that he had put it that way, I looked rather immature. “Well…” I tried to come up with a plausible reason and I knew he knew I was embarrassed by what I did, but he didn’t say anything to reprimand me. In fact, he gave me his sweetest smile.

“Next time you are annoyed, let me know, okay? Yes, baby? No matter how much I think I know you, I’m not a mind reader so you have to tell me what goes in your head,” he told me.

“But I don’t want you think I’m whiny,” I murmured, casting my head down in slight shame.

“You can be whiny, you can be annoying, you can be anything when you’re with me, baby. When I asked you to be my girlfriend again, I knew what I was getting myself into and I want to see every part of you,” he paused and tilted my chin up.

“I love you, good and bad, sunny and rainy, morning and night. I love you,” he confessed.

My heart warmed at his words and I couldn’t help when my eyes turned to him in awe.

“I love you, too,” I told him back and smiled.

I felt happy. I felt safe. I felt like this was how everything should be and this was a feeling we promised to treasure for as long as we possibly could and after living more than a quarter of a century, we realized there would never be a perfect beginning, but we could always start now.

I smiled at him again before snuggling deeper into his arms. He was so warm and so full of love. He laughed softly at my action before he tucked me in closer to his chest, locking me in his strong arms. He rested his chin above the crown of my head and kissed it once, twice and he couldn’t stop; he wouldn’t. I giggled which caused him to laugh, too. It was such a lovely moment.

But of course my boyfriend just had to ruin it.

“But, seriously,” he suddenly asked, pulling away from our hug, his eyes twinkling.

“They think my butts are nice?”

“Baekhyun!” I shrieked and hit his shoulder.

He only laughed harder.

“I was kidding, baby,” he kissed my ear, embracing me again, and tucked my head back under his chin.

“My eyes, my lips, my butts. They are all yours.”

 

 

 

♥

 

 

 

Baekhyun had a little bit of free time in between his appointments today. He’d usually pick me up from school for a short lunch trip together, but I decided to come over to his work place this time for I knew today would be a very long day for him. That explained why we were where we were – the hospital cafeteria.

“You need to eat a banana, Baekhyun,” I said, half whining when I saw all he had on his tray was spaghetti carbonara. So healthy, I wanted to scoff.

“I don’t feel like eating one today,” he shrugged.

He looked tired so I suppressed my urge to force him to eat the yellow fruit although I knew he needed all the magnesium to concentrate for his afternoon surgery later.

Our lunch went by rather uneventfully because Baekhyun was fighting to keep himself awake. He kept rubbing his forehead and closing his eyes for five seconds or so before looking back up at me. My heart ached seeing him so exhausted.

He hadn’t finished half of his meal when I fed him my rice. He was surprised and was about to protest, but I widened my eyes a little as if to say “Eat!” and he obeyed right away. He had about four spoons of my rice and chicken before I stopped feeding him altogether. I stood up and he sobered up at my abrupt action, thinking I was mad at his passiveness.

“W-Wait, baby. What―”

“I just want to return these trays, Baekhyun.”

“B-But we’re not done. You’re not done. You haven’t eaten!” he protested.

I only smiled and shook my head.

“It’s okay,” I reassured him and proceeded to put our trays away.

Baekhyun only sat there in silence as he watched me. I gathered our phones and put them in my purse before checking the table one more time for our belongings. Once I was done, I turned my eyes to him. He was already looking at me, questioning my action, and I knew he must have thought I found him annoying because he was being so sleepy and unresponsive throughout the short time that we had. He must have taken my action as the silence before the storm and well, I would have done just that if I was an immature and inconsiderate girlfriend.

I gave him my sweetest smile and leaned in. Taking his jaw in my hand, I kissed him on the lips.

“You need a nap, Baekhyun,” I said softly, nudging my nose against his.

“And, no, I’m not angry, baby,” I paused and straightened up.

He smiled in relief at that.

“But I will be if you continue to sit there and not follow me,” I faked a scowl, hands on my hips to emphasize my point.

But, of course, Baekhyun knew I was only joking. He chuckled as he circled an arm around my waist.

“Yes, my queen,” he kissed my abdomen through my shirt and I laughed, a little embarrassed, but felt very much loved.

 

 

 

Now that I had pointed out his sluggishness, Baekhyun didn’t even try to pretend he wasn’t tired in front of me. He even had the audacity to slump most of his weight on me as we rode the elevator, snuggling his nose on the crook of my neck. I only prayed nobody was entering the elevator until we reached his floor.

Thankfully, nobody did and once we arrived at our destination, I pushed him away so we could walk properly. Slipping my arm around his torso, I led the way back to his office. On our way there, we passed by the nurses’ cubicles and to say we had their attention would be an understatement. We completely snatched it.

They turned silent as soon as Baekhyun and I entered the vicinity. Their eyes taking in the way my arm was wounded around his body and him humming random tunes as we walked in matching steps to his office. I paid them no attention. My priority was to get my boyfriend to nap so we just walked past the gaping nurses as if their curiosity wasn’t our business.

I gently put Baekhyun on the bed in his office and he didn’t let out even a sound as he buried his nose in his pillow. He must be very tired, I shook my head. I let him be to close the door properly and went to put my purse on his table. Baekhyun was already dozing off when I went to the foot of the bed to take off his shoes. Once I was done, he surprised me by hooking his legs around my waist and pulled me to join him on the bed.

“I need my personal bolster,” he whined childishly.

I laughed. He looked so adorable with his lower lip jutted out like that. I would have said no usually since we were in his work place. His colleagues could pop in anytime and catch us in the act, but that afternoon I didn’t care. I climbed onto the bed and settled myself next to him. He wrapped his arms around me and made himself comfortable as he rested his head on my bosom. He seriously looked like a child like this. I smiled.

“I’ll wake you up in thirty minutes,” I said.

He only hummed.

“What a baby,” I feigned a complaint, my smile turned wider with every passing second at his adorableness.

“Your baby,” he smartly replied.

I nearly scoffed, but I couldn’t really say no to that, now could I?

“Yes, yes. My baby,” I confirmed.

 

 

 

♥

 

 

 

Today was supposed to be our fourth anniversary, but my dear Baekhyun hadn’t shown his face to me since early in the morning. In fact, he hadn’t shown any sign that he even remembered our special day.

I wasn’t usually emotional (okay I actually was), but him not greeting me first thing when the day broke got me a little riled up. Not to mention how sad I must have looked to be spending my special day rolling aimlessly around my bed.

I tried calling Baekhyun, but it all went unanswered. He didn’t reply my messages too. Well, he did say he would be having an appointment with a very important patient later, but what kind of appointment would last from early in the day till this late? It was already a quarter to five! Can’t a girl expect at least a call from her boyfriend on their anniversary? I seriously felt like crying.

And I actually did.

“Hey, honey,” Mommy chirped sweetly as she burst into my room.

I was wallowing in tears then and I didn’t expect anyone to saunter in so when she came, I wasn’t fast enough to hide my face.

“Honey? What happened?” she rushed to my side once she registered I was in a mess.

Before she got near my bed, I managed to go under the blanket and covered myself. She tried to pull it down so she could see my face, but I didn’t let her. I held the blanket tighter when she tugged on it. She tried again and still I wouldn’t relent. Thankfully, she let me be.

“Sweetheart, why are you crying?” she asked softly, her voice sounding so warm and so sincere that I wanted to jump into her embrace.

But it wasn’t her embrace I was longing for. It wasn’t her soft coos I wanted to hear. It was someone else’s. It was someone who ditched me on our anniversary for his work. Someone who hadn’t even called me from the moment I woke up. Someone who might not be in love with me anymore.

At the wild thought, I cried harder and Mommy could only rub my back again and again to calm me down as I refused to get out of the cover.

“You know you can always talk to me right, sweetheart?” she prompted.

I let out a few sobs to compose myself so I could get words out of my mouth.

“I-I think, Baek-Baekhyun doesn’t love me anymore,” I confessed.

When those words were out of my mouth, they sounded so real that I couldn’t help to cry even harder. My heart fell at the possibility that it might really be the case because when I thought about it, Baekhyun hadn’t even mentioned anything about our anniversary. Usually, he would be hinting about his plan for our special day or when he was out of new ideas, he would casually sneak in a few questions here and there to get my opinion, but this time, he did nothing.

“Hey, shh. That’s impossible, sweetheart. He loves you very much. You know that,” she tried to remind me.

But her words weren’t exactly comforting to my heart. I mean, who knows? Baekhyun could have met someone else, someone better.

“Darling, let’s get out of that cocoon and eat ice cream with me, okay? I just bought your favorite Haagen Dazs,” again she tried to cheer me up.

But I couldn’t be cheered up. I refused to be cheered up. What if my thoughts were true? What if Baekhyun really didn’t love me anymore? What if―

“I want to be alone,” was the only thing I said to her after her effort to get me out of my destructive thoughts.

After a minute or two, she finally gave up and exited my room, leaving me to bask in my misery. I kept on tossing around the bed, trying very hard to clear my head, but my attempt was futile.

Only then I sat up with determination, grabbed my phone and went out of my room. I jogged down the stairs as I wiped my tears away.

 “She didn’t want to talk to me! I can’t help you anymore. I don’t kn―”

I heard Mommy from outside the kitchen.

“Mommy,” I called out.

She was shocked to see me and quickly hid her phone. Under normal circumstances, I would have asked her about it, but right now I just had to get away.

“I’m going out,” I stated shortly.

“No, you can’t go. Where are you going? Baby, wh―”

I didn’t even wait for her to finish before I dashed out of the house, grabbing my car key as I did so. I was just going to drive around for a few hours to clear my head, stopping by my favorite bakery on my way back too probably.

Just when I had strapped myself in the car, my phone rang. It was Baekhyun. I would have answered right away if he had called a few hours earlier, but right now I wasn’t in the mood to talk to him, to anyone, so I ignored it. I looked away and back to the road in front of me. I started the engine and stepped on the gas. I had to be away.

 

 

♥

 

 

 

Baekhyun’s POV

 

 

 

I called her, but she didn’t pick up. I tried again and again she didn’t pick up. I must have called her a hundred times in the last two hours, but she just let it ring, not answering. I felt like my brain was going to explode. She was hurt because of me and she was driving all by herself with unsteady mood and I had no idea where she might be and it killed me. I was so stupid for purposely ignoring her all day just to surprise her with an anniversary dinner. I should have at least texted her this morning before I went on with all the preparations for tonight and now I had lost her.

I just hoped she wouldn’t be careless and would return to me safely.

I kept pacing up and down the living room, my phone in my hand as I kept dialing and redialing her number. This worry was eating my heart and I couldn’t be still and just wait.

“I’m gonna find her!” I told my parents and hers and dashed out of her house.

Tonight was supposed to be a special night for the two of us, but I went too far and made her doubt my love for her and now she was out there feeding her brain with nasty thoughts that would only break her heart and I wouldn’t be there to save her.

I didn’t stop calling her even though I knew my chance of being answered was slim. Only after a few rounds of aimless drive did I remember that I had installed an application in her phone to prevent it from missing. I almost leaped out of my seat in joy at my good luck and I quickly pulled over so I could find her.

 

 

 

♥

 

 

 

I saw her car parked on the side of an empty park and I felt tears of joy running down my cheeks. I didn’t know I was this emotional, but I was just happy to finally see her again. I parked my car behind hers and I knew she was deep in her thoughts when she didn’t realize my presence.

She was sitting cross-legged on the bench, binging on her favorite almond croissant, as she stared ahead. She had been crying, her eyes were puffy and red and all I wanted to do then was to wrap my arms around her and never let her go.

I walked quietly, not wanting to surprise her (or worse, send me away). She looked so lovely, even with her hair tossed messily by the wind and little crumbs of the pastry sitting messily at the end of her lips. She looked very, very lovely.

“Baby,” I called out and she snapped her head toward me.

She was surprised, but I was even more surprised when her eyes suddenly went shut and let out fresh batch of tears. Out of the blue, she couldn’t stop her sobs at the sight of me and I quickly made my way to her.

I pulled her by her wrist and I did it a little too hard that she flew toward my chest, but I didn’t mind. I caught her in my arms and I tightened my embrace around her, hoping to ease her.

She didn’t return it.

She just stood there and cried.

“Baby, shh. I’m so sorry. Baby, please don’t cry. I love you. I love you very much and I remember our anniversary. I actually planned to surprise you with a romantic dinner. I didn’t forget. I just wanted you to think I did. Gods, I’m so sorry, baby. I didn’t know I would hurt you by doing so. I’m so sorry. Please don’t cry anymore. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. I love you,” I told her, pouring every ounce of love I had in me with every word.

She didn’t say anything. She just continued to cry, but she returned my hug. Her slender arms were tight around my waist as she buried her head in my chest.

“Shh, baby. Don’t cry. I’m here. I’m so sorry,” I cooed, running my hand up and down her back to calm her.

It broke my heart to see her so heartbroken and she was like this all because of me.

“I thought you forgot,” she finally spoke to me, her voice muffled against my shirt.

“Never in a million years,” I reassured her, kissing the crown of her head again and again.

“A-And I thought you were no longer in love with me,” she confessed, her voice broke a little.

“What?” I shrieked.

“No, baby. No! Never!” I couldn’t help to raise my voice at her statement because her thoughts were just so absurd to my ears.

“If ever we were to break up, it would probably be because of you falling out of love with me. Not the other way round,” I said to her honestly.

“I love you,” I said, feeling tears welling up at the back of my own eyes.

I couldn’t believe she actually thought I had stopped loving her because I had ignored her all day. Didn’t she realize how much joy she had brought into my otherwise mundane life? Couldn’t she feel how warm she made me feel inside just at the mere thought of her?

I pulled myself slightly from the hug and cradled her face in my hands as I looked at her straight in the eyes.

“You’re the best person I could have ever asked for to be my lover. You’re thoughtful. You’re kind and you’re so sweet. And you always try to be a better partner for me, to understand how demanding my job is. You always tell me how proud you are of me. You are always so supportive and every day I look forward to listen to your voice, to see your face and to just be with you,” I paused.

She had stopped crying by then. She looked mesmerized by my words and even after that much of crying, she was still so beautiful.

“I love you, baby. I really do and I would never ask for another person to ever replace you in my heart so I hope you can kick that ugly thought away from your brain.”

She finally giggled when I feigned a scowl and scrunched up my nose, just the way she liked it. She said I looked adorable when I pretended to be mad at her. Little did she know she looked adorable to me all the time.

She kissed my chin after giving me a smile. I smiled back and she hugged me again. This time, she wasn’t hugging me to hide her sobs. This time, she was hugging me out of love.

“Are you feeling better now?” I tried to ask.

She let go and looked up, bumping her forehead against my chin as she did so.

“Hmm,” she nodded cutely.

I couldn’t stop my smile when she did that.

“Do you want to go home now?” I kissed her lips.

“Hmm,” she nodded again.

I pursed my lips then.

“Baby, if you’re going to keep on doing that, you can’t hold me responsible of what I’ll do to you,” I growled softly.

She was making it so hard for me to keep my hormones in check. Can’t I just kiss the life out of her here? She’s so adorable.

She giggled.

“I won’t,” she paused and kissed my jaw on purpose because she knew I was a er for her kisses.

“I won’t hold you responsible of what you’ll do to me,” she giggled and grabbed my neck, pulling me down so she could crash her lips against mine.

I groaned at the force, but welcomed her anyway. I pressed her closer to me and even slid my hands down her butts to her thighs, prompting her to jump, and she did. She locked her ankles behind my back and the new leverage made her taller and gave us a better angle to kiss and so we just made out like we owned the world.

It was pure bliss.

Until I remembered something.

“Let’s continue this at home,” I broke away cheekily.

I put her down and she elbowed me lightly on my ribs when I slapped her .

“Baekhyun!”

I smirked before taking her hand, leading her to my car.

“I’ll send someone to get your car later. Come on, baby,” I tugged on our connected hands and we both smiled.

“Ah, wait,” I stopped abruptly, bending down to retrieve something.

“What, Baekh―” she stopped speaking immediately once she saw I was kneeling on the road, or more specifically kneeling on one knee with an opened velvet box on my hand.

I chuckled at her response. I ran my hand up and down her calf to soothe her because she looked as if she had seen a ghost.

I called her name, the big smile on my face just wouldn’t go.

“Will you marry me?”