Hyo Soo threw her head back in laughter, an immediate response to one of her friend’s stupid jokes. They were hanging out in the school courtyard to pass time while waiting for their next periods. Supposedly, they were to use the free time to study for an oral exam but the three girls thought it was better to just goof off and chitchat.

The girl’s phone vibrated on the table and lit up with a new message. After wiping an invisible tear induced by her hearty laughter, she picked her phone up to read the very… special message from her boyfriend.

JustBaekHyun: UGH.

Hyo Soo merely shook her head with a small smile on her face at his timid reply. Other girls would probably around if they get a reply like this and blow things out of proportion. They’d think that their boyfriend doesn’t love them anymore or blame themselves for doing something wrong that may have dampened their mood. Hyo Soo isn’t like that.

It’s not like she didn’t exactly care. She was just used to it. This is how Baekhyun is anyway. He’s kind of blank, just neutral and passive. You can’t exactly read him or figure him out. Even as his girlfriend for about three months now, (She thinks… Really, she’s not sure what they are) Hyo Soo still can’t exactly say she knew him well but she does know him enough.

Hyo Soo bit her lower lip as she started to have a mental countdown to Baekhyun’s arrival. By the count of five, she looked up from her phone. There was a body coming out from the school building and making their way towards the girls’ noisy table.

Despite looking away as she dropped her phone on her lap and acting as if she didn’t see him coming, there was a small grin on her lips. She continued talking to the girls casually and as Baekhyun finally reached them, the book he borrowed from her in his hand, standing right behind her, she didn’t turn to him until her friends awkwardly informed her of his presence.

Slowly, Hyo Soo pivoted on her chair and looked up at Baekhyun. His face is blank as usual, her book already extended out to her. The girl locked eyes with Baekhyun for a while then she stared at the book in front of her face. She carefully took it from him and gave him a small smile.

She didn’t even talk to the guy. She merely dipped her head to bow in thanks and in turn, the boy nodded, turning around to leave right away. As Hyo Soo turned back around, just about ready to keep her book away, her friends eyed her weirdly. “What?” she asked with her eyebrow raised.

The two girls blinked at her then glanced at each other. “Are you two always like that?” Nan Ji asked with a tilt of her head. Hyo Soo seemed confused. She furrowed her brows and asked, “Like what?” The two dropped their jaws at her obliviousness.

“Like that. Like… you’re not even a couple to begin with! Are you sure you’re dating?” Seon Hee’s eyebrows were furrowed too, equally confused at the odd behavior of this supposed “couple.” Hyo Soo stared at her for a moment, glanced at her book then nonchalantly shrugged. “I think so.”

Nan Ji and Seon Hee were back to gaping at her. “You… You think? You only think you’re dating?” Hyo Soo started to feel a burn in her cheeks. No one’s ever really interested about her and Baekhyun. Actually, she thinks no one really knows about them. But that doesn’t matter! Does it?

Hyo Soo cleared awkwardly and began to put her book and notes away. “W-Well… We kiss sometimes and we’ve had a couple of times too,” she mumbled shyly. “And?” The girl couldn’t help but groan at her friends. Why were they suddenly so curious about them? They didn’t use to be! “And what?” Hyo Soo replied, slightly annoyed now.

As she got up from her seat, the other two followed quickly. “No romantic dates?” Seon Hee asked with a raise of her eyebrow. “Sweet gestures or terms of endearment? Sappy, cringe worthy declarations of love?” Nan Ji continued, clinging onto Hyo Soo and tugging on her sleeve teasingly.

She frowned. That is gross and if Baekhyun even attempts any of those, she’ll knee him in the balls. “No! Ew…” She cringed at the mere thought of it, making the two girls laugh at her reaction, teasing her because they were sure that she was just pretending not to like all those cheesy things. “Whatever! Even if it isn’t that romantic or special, you’ve definitely gone out, right?”

Hyo Soo heaved a sigh before nodding her head tiredly. “Yes. We buy groceries together.” Seon Hee’s smile flattened almost instantly and Nan Ji stopped walking just to turn to Hyo Soo, looking at her as if she had just come out from the mental hospital.

Hyo Soo merely looked back at them with a small pout on her lips and her eyebrows heavily furrowed. They eventually stopped staring at Hyo Soo and blinked at her in disbelief instead. “You… You buy–” Nan Ji scoffed and hollowly chuckled. She pinched the bridge of her nose in distress. “Oh my gosh, I’m getting a headache.”

Seon Hee face palmed, groaning and turning to look at Hyo Soo again. This time though, she was giving her a pitiful look. “This is bad, man.” The girl shook her head disapprovingly and then turned to Nan Ji. The two suddenly started to bombard Hyo Soo with invading questions about her and Baekhyun.

She didn’t like it. She thought it was absolutely useless to try and answer any of it so she kept shut. The two whined because they weren’t getting anything from Hyo Soo and just when she thought she was going to lose it, the bell started ringing. Hyo Soo sighed exaggeratedly, shaking their clingy hands off her arms immediately.

She waved at them and practically ran away despite them still calling out for her. When she was sure that they were far enough and that she was alone, she stopped running and just walked. Now that Nan Ji and Seon Hee finally broke and asked her about Baekhyun, she suddenly can’t think of anything else but the said guy.

Hyo Soo took a deep breath, gripping onto her bag straps tighter. “Byun Baekhyun,” she softly breathed out. She doesn’t know why but even his mere name makes her smile. He just has that effect on her and she really does wonder why.

She really likes Baekhyun and it’s a little weird because he doesn’t even make an effort to make her heart flutter. Seeing him just suddenly does that. He’s not verbal about his feelings at all, she barely even knows what he feels sometimes. That’s probably why the smallest of reactions from him always does things to her.

One measly slip of a smile on his lips and her heart is bursting with this sudden warmth, with some sort of joy because at last! His blank face is graced with even the tiniest of smiles and you know what makes her heart thump even harder? When she knows that his shy, miniscule smile is because of her.

Even the tiny pouts, the little glares and eyebrow raises he so discreetly does makes her feel like she’s won the damn lotto. She just loves it that she, out of all people, can get those reactions from him. His friends, that she has become really close to, once praised her for finally getting something out of him.

Baekhyun is a handsome guy. Aside from him being closely compared to a light post because he’s just so damn emotionless, he’s nice. He’s fairly likable and honestly, this passiveness of his is intriguing and attractively mysterious. Girls never get it though and so they don’t pay him any mind or if they do, they don’t last long with him.

Baekhyun has apparently never treated a girl like he has with Hyo Soo. She was different and that is because she just doesn’t mind his personality. She doesn’t mind that he doesn’t text her 24/7. She doesn’t mind that he isn’t sweet or romantic, that he doesn’t kiss her that often, hug her or hold her hand even.

She doesn’t mind that he’s not that protective of her. She doesn’t mind that he isn’t that open with her. She doesn’t at all mind because truthfully, she’s like that as well. She doesn’t like drama. She doesn’t like this whole idea of “romance,” this gross, exaggerated and beautiful way that people describe love as… but with Baekhyun, things are slightly getting different.

Hyo Soo shuddered and quickly shook her head of her crazy lovey-dovey thoughts of the boy. What the hell is going on with her? Does she like Baekhyun a little too much? Seon Hee was right. This is bad.

Hyo Soo checked her phone after five damn hours and Baekhyun hasn’t replied to her last text. There was no pout or frown from her. She only stared. Baekhyun doesn’t always reply. It might even be considered a miracle if he texts but she doesn’t mind. She’s obviously not the clingy type and she never will be. She barely uses her phone anyway so this really doesn’t matter.

JustBaekHyun: 041630…

She read his last text from yesterday just one more time before putting her phone down. This is an example of one of his miracle texts. He usually texts when it’s only extremely necessary but why are these random numbers usually present? Hyo Soo has no idea. Were those numbers really necessary? He randomly blurts it out sometimes too but the girl just usually ignores that randomness.

That’s just Baekhyun being stupid anyway. It’s just gibberish. Sighing, she left her phone on her bed and decided to actually do some studying for her long exam tomorrow. She also decided to start on reports due next week and even had enough time to spare for a good book.

A couple hours later, (she doesn’t even know how many) her sister started to fume into her room. Hyo Soo looked up from her book, just about to greet her when the girl suddenly yelled, “I have been trying to ing call you for like, thirty damn minutes! Why didn’t you pick up?” Confused but still a little uncaring, Hyo Soo nonchalantly pushed her computer chair out of her desk.

She walked to her bed with a sigh and reached for her phone to check. She apparently has about fourteen missed calls from Insoo. “Oh…” she murmured, smiling sheepishly at her sister. She awkwardly rubbed her neck as she said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t notice. You know I barely even use my phone…” Hyo Soo trailed when Insoo’s glare got even more heated. “I’m your sister!” Insoo yelled once more and crossed her arms.

“How could you not pick up my calls?! What if it was an emergency?!” The girl was flail