“What do you think?” You asked as you spun around on your feet before pointing your questioning eyes at him, waiting for his opinion. You didn’t think you’d ever ask someone to give you advice about your fashion style, surely not a guy. But after what had happened with your parents you wanted everything to be perfect tonight. You hadn’t forgotten the way Baekhyun had reacted when he had seen you in your dress that night, the slight disapproval that you seen in his eyes. The fact that he hadn’t liked your dress and had thought it was too short was reason enough to look for something different tonight. After all you were going to meet his parents, and you were sure they shared the same opinion as him. A first opinion was important, and you wanted them to at least think you were pretty. Baekhyun blinked his eyes at you, just like he had done when you had shown him the previous dresses before he looked you in the eye and smiled. “I think you looked good in all of them, but this one is nice too.” He always gave you that answer, which meant that he either had no idea what the difference was between this dresses expect for the color, or he didn’t want to hurt you feelings by saying that he didn’t like it. Never the less you could feel a deep blush travel onto your cheeks, unable to control it. You were sure he didn’t flirt with you on purpose, or maybe in his eyes this wasn’t flirting at all. But to you, a girl who never had a boyfriend before and who never went out on a date, this was definitely flirting. 

The worst part about all of it was probably that you secretly liked it, even though you had always told yourself you’d never allow yourself to do so. “Pick one.” You said, pointing at the dresses that were hanging against the wall, and he leaned forward on his seat in front of your fitting room to look at all the fabrics. For a moment you were convinced he was going to let you choose yourself and tell you that it didn’t matter to him which dress you wore. But eventually he pointed towards the deep purple dress you had worn a few minutes ago. “That one, the color suited you very well, it follows your curves….Not that I noticed them.” This time it were his cheeks that turned pink and you couldn’t stop the smile that was traveling onto your face. The more time you spend with him the more you got to see the guy he actually was. One that got extremely flustered when he said something to embarrass himself, but it was actually cute when he blushed like that. “Do you think your parents will like it?” You asked, doubt lingering inside of your voice as you stared at the dress on the hanger, trying to see it through someone else’s eyes. It was different from the things you usually wore, but still you liked it. If you’d gone shopping with your mother she never would have allowed you to buy something like this, it wasn’t special and outstanding enough. His soothing eyes locked with yours as he spoke. “You shouldn’t worry about what they say or think, they’ve already made up their minds about you and there’s probably nothing you can do about it. Just be yourself and don’t feel bad because of what happens around them.” 

It surprised you how airy and calm he was about all of this, but it caused your nerves to lessen as well. You nodded and gave him a tight smile before disappearing into the fitting room again and getting changed into your own clothes again. You had been dreading this moment ever since you knew it was coming, but you could impossibly say no to this. You couldn’t refuse to meet his parents, it wasn’t respectful. But you couldn’t help but be scared. “They’ll hate me, and there’s nothing I can do about it.” The sorrow was probably visible inside of your voice because when you opened the curtains Baekhyun shot you a compassionate look. As you took the purple dress from the coat rack and started to make your way towards the cash desk he carefully walked behind you. It was hard not to notice that the two of you were here as a couple, but it was still weird. This was the first time the two of you had done anything like this, going out with the two of you so everyone could see you together. Everybody instantly assumed that you two were a happy and in love couple. If they only knew that you were his student. “I’m not going to let them say or do anything that will hurt you. I’ll tell them to behave.” He said as he stood behind you as you gave the clothing to an employee and she began to put it in a bag for you. She smiled at you as if you were one of her close friends, but you didn’t know her that well. The only reason why her face was familiar to you was because you came to shop here more often and she worked here. 

“You know you can’t tell them what to do, it’s their party and we are invited guests. We have no choice but to play with their rules.” You muttered closely to his ear, hoping that your conversation wasn’t out in the open and for everyone to hear. You shoved the money over the counter and patiently waited for your exchange and his answer. “It’s nice to see that you brought your boyfriend miss Heeri. I’ve always wondered who was the man who made you so happy.” The girl in front of you suddenly said and you blushed madly because of it. You never thought she’d be wondering about those kind of things. She didn’t know you personally, you hadn’t spoken to each other in such way. And yet here she was telling you that she had always wanted to know who you were with. Instead of saying anything you blinked your eyes at her and you stood there like a stupid idiot. Hesitation began to b