Do you like strawberries?
Wanna catch a movie?
Oh yes, me too, always earnest
But girl problems in both hands
Do you like chocolate?
Is it sweet on your lips?
Oh yes, me too, it’s only you
But they’re real, girl problems
My phone won’t stop ringing
Too many unread messages
Tonight, anywhere
There’s no way I can escape
These are my girl problems
 

Baekhyun receives a call from Jongdae on Sunday evening.

“What happened on Friday night?” the guy on the phone demands.

Baekhyun frowns. “Nothing.”

“Don’t lie to me, Byun Baekhyun,” Jongdae growls, sounding so mad that Baekhyun actually feels his body prickling with anxiety. “She came to our place, crying. Tell me what exactly happened.”

Baekhyun’s throat clogs up and he feels his heart tightening. Did she cry? Why? Is she okay now? The mere thought of her bright smile hidden behind tears and a frown makes him nervous and anxious. Will he be able to see the human equivalent to the sun again? Will she want to meet him again because of what he has done?

Baekhyun stops there for a moment. What did he do? He races through the events from Saturday night, going through every moment deliberately, remembering the way he felt when he sang her to sleep, the warmth that he has never ever felt before radiating from her body, the image of her sleeping with her pretty lips slightly parted, eyelashes brushing her cheeks. He can’t think of a moment where he had made her feel upset, or had he been too caught up in his own feelings that he hadn’t taken notice of her?

God, he is such an . He should have listened to her and looked at her. Properly. Not just watch her without seeing, not just listen without understanding. Has he always been like that to girls? Now that he thinks about it, he might have hurt her in some way, he just didn’t know it. Now he feels scared. What if she won’t talk to him ever again? What if she doesn’t want to hear him sing anymore? What if—

“Baekhyun!” Jongdae yells into the phone for Baekhyun had been silent when he called him the first time.

Baekhyun snaps out of his drowning thoughts, heaving a deep breath as if he has just resurfaced from the flood of unwanted memories. “I-I-I don’t know, Jongdae,” he breathes. “Maybe— Maybe I insulted her by accident? Or— Or I might have kicked her in my sleep. I don’t… I can’t remember…”

“What did you actually do?” Jongdae asks again, though not sounding as angry as before.

“N-Nothing!” Baekhyun answers right away, running a frustrated hand through his hair as he bites on his bottom lip in worry. “We got back to my place, she took a shower before me, then I sa— she fell asleep,” he jumps over that small detail about singing her to sleep. That would make him look stupid. “We went to sleep fine and when she woke up she seemed fine too…”

More than fine actually, Baekhyun thinks to himself. Beautiful.

Jongdae doesn’t say anything for a long moment. But when he speaks, his voice is serious but calm. “So you didn’t her,” he concludes.

Baekhyun’s eyebrows draw together and he feels a sort of fiery indignance in his chest. “What, no!” he huffs. Another pause. This time a longer one. So long that Baekhyun wonders if his friend is okay. “Jongdae? Have you died? Finally?”

“Baekhyun,” the other guy snaps, causing Baekhyun to quirk a smile. Jongdae gets so riled up so easily, it’s fun to annoy him. “You’re serious about her, aren’t you?”

And suddenly Baekhyun isn’t smirking and thinking about how fun it is to annoy Jongdae. Suddenly Baekhyun is staring at the wall blankly, the question ringing and echoing in his ears.

Well, he did tell Jongdae that it isn’t a game to him. But honestly, Baekhyun doesn’t even know if he said it just to get him off his back and let him spend more time with his neighbour, or if he actually meant it. Because really, when has Baekhyun ever been serious about any girl? All he has done in the past, what, seven years of his life is master the art of seduction and flirt his way to pleasurable oblivion. He has never been serious about meeting a girl and neither have they expected much from him, considering his infamous stories that float around in corridors and courtyards.

“You like her, Baekhyun, don’t you?” Jongdae asks, this time teasing a little.

Baekhyun feels his heart racing as a sudden realisation hits him. He likes her? He likes her? There’s no way. If anything, she should like him first before he would even like her back. That’s just the way it is with Baekhyun. He doesn’t do the chasing.

But he knows that he has been on the losing end since the start. From the very first time he met her, she had been the one leading him to unfamiliar territories, leaving him extremely confused and stunned. And the second time he met her, he felt jealousy and envy towards Jongdae he has never, ever felt before just because she seemed so close to him. And the third time he met her, he had sung her to sleep. And Baekhyun knows that he never would have sung anyone to sleep if it hadn’t been her who asked.

.

“You don’t have to answer me,” Jongdae chuckles softly as if he could see Baekhyun now, eyes wide after having come to terms with this entirely new feeling that he had sworn to never feel until he is tired of the single life and the many hot girls he has the honour to get a taste of. “I don’t know if you’re ever going to chase her and make her your girlfriend,” Jongdae continues. Baekhyun’s eyes bulge at the word girlfriend. He has also sworn off girlfriends ever since he started this carefree, playboy life. “And I’m not even sure if she’d like you back. She’s too good for you.” Baekhyun can’t help the grunt that comes out of his mouth, making his friend snigger. “I’m just here to tell you this though: she really likes strawberries and chocolates. And her last class tomorrow ends at five in the evening.”

Baekhyun can’t believe what he is hearing. After that whole conversation about Baekhyun being too destructive for his darling little neighbour and now Jongdae’s giving him advice and tips on wooing her.

“Wait,” he breathes, still not quite wrapping his head around that fact. “So why was she crying? Did I do something wrong?” he asks, sounding just a bit anxious.

Jongdae snorts. “You’ve got it bad, Baek,” he teases, confusing Baekhyun even more. “She wasn’t crying,” he finally confessed. “She actually told us she had a great time at brunch with you.”

“She did?” Baekhyun feels breathless, his heart blossoming with pride and excitement.

“Yes,” Jongdae chuckles. “Don’t break her trust, Baek. You’re never going to gain it back if you do. And I don’t think I’d be keen to help you earn it back if that happens.”

Baekhyun immediately shakes his head and swallows. “I won’t,” he promises with a determined spark in his eyes.

So of course Baekhyun rocks up late to his first lecture the next day because he had to drive down to the finest chocolate store in town to buy a box of expensive chocolate covered strawberries. He holds it carefully in his hands all day and for the first time ever, Baekhyun forgets about his hatred towards Mondays due to the queasy feeling in his stomach and the anxiety that is wrecking his body. Even when some girls try to seduce him into going with them, he turns them down brusquely and makes sure he holds the box of chocolate away from them lest the chocolate strawberries are ruined.

At five in the afternoon, Baekhyun makes his way to where the classroom the girl is having her last tutorial in. He waits outside rather impatiently as he taps his foot against the floor rapidly, his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes glaring at the door of the tutorial room. He is constantly checking the time. And when it is nearly five minutes to five, the door opens and Baekhyun feels his heart stopping for a moment. He hasn’t felt this nervous in a long time, not even when he had to sing in front of a panel of academics and judges.

Then he finally sees the girl, looking so different from the other two girls walking with her, so stunningly adorable in a short-sleeved, slightly too-big-for-her-size dress shirt that has tropical fruits patterned all over it. Even her dangling earrings are slices of watermelons and Baekhyun can’t think of anything cuter than that.

“Oh, Baekhyun!” she smiles her million watt smile upon noticing Baekhyun standing just opposite her classroom. “What are you doing here?”

Baekhyun doesn’t notice the way her friends gape at him, eyes bulging at the fact that the untouchable Byun Baekhyun is standing before their very eyes. He swallows his nerves and clears his throat, straightening his back a little to look more affirmative.

He doesn’t even glance at her friends when he asks, voice trembling slightly, “Can I speak to you?”

She looks at him for a moment, head tilted to the side as she tries to come up with reasons why he would even want to talk to her. She gives him a warm smile and nods her head, turning to her friends who are still staring at Baekhyun, taking in his visuals that they have only ever seen from afar. She lets them know that she’ll be a minute and goes over to the side where Baekhyun follows her, his eyes attracted to the silk ribbon that holds up half her hair. When they’re at a corner, out of hearing range, she smiles warmly up at him.

“What’s up, Baekhyun?”

The boy opens his mouth. Instead of speaking though, all he does is breathe as he stares at her pretty face from up close. He has found a mole on her eyebrow and he thinks back to that face map he saw once in high school, trying to recall if an eyebrow mole actually does signify beauty.

“Baekhyun?”

“Huh?” The guy blinks and snaps out of it, sounding so blank and dazed that the girl chuckles softly.

“You’re very out of it,” she remarks. Another warm smile and an understanding gaze. Baekhyun feels like he’s just had hot chocolate in winter even if he doesn’t really enjoy hot chocolate and it isn’t even close to winter. “Do you need my help with something?” she asks because that has to be the only thing he would come to her for, right?

Baekhyun clears his throat and glances down at the box in his hand. “R-Right. Well, um, I got some… I got some chocolate strawberries for you,” he mutters, sounding so awkward and so ing embarrassed.

He can’t even look her in the eye. But when she doesn’t say anything, he glances at her under his lashes. She is staring at him, surveying him. Her lips tilt into a serene, unreadable smile as she darts her eyes to the box he is holding.

“Is that it?” Baekhyun swallows and nods. She scans the logo branded on the top of the box. “That’s an expensive brand of chocolate,” she comments. He shrugs, still unable to speak. So she asks, curious, “How do you know what I like?”

“Jongdae,” he breathes.

Recognition floods her features as she leans back a little, ahh-ing. “So why’d you buy me chocolate strawberries?”

Baekhyun has no answer for it himself. He doesn’t even remember what was going on in his mind when he made up the decision to buy the chocolate strawberries for her. So he doesn’t reply her. She takes a step closer to him and Baekhyun completely freezes, his entire system going haywire. She isn’t even that close. But he can still smell her sweet perfume that is so alluring and so her. His legs feel like jelly all of a sudden.

“I’ll just take one, okay? I can’t accept the whole box. The whole thing probably costs 50 bucks,” she says, her hands already reaching out to the box.

But Baekhyun, no matter how frozen he is, has the nerve to pull the box back away from her reaching hands. She looks at him in amusement. He is holding his breath, realising maybe he shouldn’t have done that because now he has to speak and he isn’t exactly in the mood to talk right now. He can’t even get oxygen to his lungs, god dammit.

“I bought this for—” He chokes on his breath here, having not taken a proper inhale before he started talking. God, when was the last time he was ever this flustered in front of a girl? Kindergarten, maybe. He quickly clears his throat and restarts. “I bought this for you. Accept it.” And though he is not a polite person, always so rough and crude, he remembers her warmth and politeness and it is just natural when he adds, “Please.”

The girl stares at him, taking in his earnest expression. She sighs and nods. Her lips quirk into a smile when Baekhyun’s eyes light up. “In return though,” she starts, stopping Baekhyun from being too excited. “I don’t have much I can give you but the girls —” she turns back to her friends for a moment, gesturing to them, “— and I are going to have dinner and then watch a movie. Let me buy you a meal and a movie ticket.”

Baekhyun’s answer is quick. Before even buying her chocolate strawberries and giving them to her, he had already known not to expect anything for her in return. After all, Baekhyun isn’t doing this just to seduce her. Maybe impress her, but he thinks he isn’t doing a very good job anyway so what is the point? He’d just do with gifting her her favourite snacks just to see her bright smile.

“No, it’s fine,” he shakes his head rapidly. “I don’t want to intrude on your girls’ night out.”

“Oh, I’m sure they won’t mind,” she chuckles though her tone has a sort of teasing lilt.

He really wants to spend more time with her though. He glances behind her at her friends. “Are you sure?” he asks, worried that he would be seen as an insensitive person who self-invites to dinners and movies with girls.

“Yes,” she smiles. “I’m very sure they’d like to get to know you. They talk about you all the time.” He darts his eyes to her, not expecting that. She notices the surprise in his eyes. “They’re the ones who go clubbing often,” she explains, laughing slightly. “They’re quite taken with your—” Baekhyun’s airway constricts as he watches her run her eyes over his body. Then she returns her gaze to his face and he thinks she says the nicest thing anyone has ever said about his appearance. “Chic bad boy look.”

His heart is still pounding when she grins at him, looking so playful and teasing that Baekhyun feels like he might be going mad. His cardiac muscle is pumping too fast, his lungs isn’t even working, his mind is blank. All he sees is her, all he smells is her, all he knows is her.

“So you’ll let me buy you dinner and movie?”

“No,” comes his quick answer no matter how breathless. She quirks an eyebrow at him. He has to think quick. He doesn’t want to make a girl pay for him, especially not this girl. “You can buy me a drink after the movie.” That’s also extra time with her.

She frowns at him, very sure that a drink wouldn’t be anything close to how much he spent on the chocolates. But she only sees resoluteness in his eyes so she sighs and nods her head. She smiles at him, holding out her hands for the box of chocolate strawberries.

“Let me take it.”

Baekhyun shakes his head. “I’ll hold it,” he murmurs before glancing at her friends who are talking, constantly glancing over their way. “I’ll drive us to dinner.” She beams at him, happy to have a ride. He tips his lips into a smile and the question is unrestricted when he requests, “Will you sit in the front seat?”

She gives him a smile. “Of course, Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun is driving, one hand on the steering wheel, the other resting leisurely on the car console armrest. The girl next to him is trying to get him to know her friends better and he doesn’t really want to tell her it’s not working, considering how he is only listening to her melodious voice and the way she says his name. The car ride is short since their university is close to the city. He parks the car within 20 minutes of leaving campus and the four of them get out of the vehicle to head towards the restaurant.

Baekhyun walks next to the girl while her friends walk on her other side. He doesn’t want to sound like a weirdo or anything but he has to admit that he actually likes the fact that the people walking on the streets makes him walk closer towards the girl, because his heart jumps every time their arms touch and when her head comes up to the height of his nose, he thinks her scent is heavenly. They eventually get to the pizza place they had chosen to go to and Baekhyun is suddenly recalled to the time when he was in kindergarten, sitting next to the girl he likes and getting all clammy and nervous because of that. Is this what he feels towards her? Does he actually like her? Not just like her, but like like her?

What is he even saying?

He clears his head when he hears his name being called by the girl next to him. He turns to her quickly and sees her leaning over slightly as she pours water for everyone, eyes trained on the cups. He takes this time to revel in her side profile.

“They have a tom yum flavoured pizza and it’s my favourite—”

“Let’s get it, then,” he blurts without even letting her finish.

She glances at him in amusement, smiling at his eagerness. “Hungry, Baekhyun?” she teases. He blushes. “I was going to ask you if you can take spicy food.”

He nods his head. “I can.”

She beams at him just as she sets down the jug of water. “Great.” Then she turns to her friends who are perusing the menu. “Order two more pizzas and we’re set.”

“I want some garlic bread!” one of her friends exclaims eagerly, glancing at Baekhyun in hopes of stealing his attention from her friend.

But he isn’t listening because his phone is buzzing continuously in his pocket. And when he takes it out, he notices the spam of texts he has gotten from several girls of his, all of them asking him when he would be going to their place. He always sheds the frustration of having long days every Monday after his class and for the first time this semester during the very last week of the term, he skips this tradition of his. He tries to set his phone on the table but it keeps buzzing every half a minute.

“Do you want to check that, Baekhyun?” He glances to the side with his cup still at his mouth. The girl raises her eyebrows at his busy phone. “Might be important.”

He swallows his water and shakes his head. “No, it’s fine.” He snatches his phone off the table and pockets it. “They’re not important.”

She quirks a teasing eyebrow at him. “Byun Baekhyun’s girl problems, huh?”

He can’t help the heat rising to his face. He used to bask in the attention from the female population, proud to be desired by all. Yet now, Baekhyun can’t help but wish he never had these girl problems.

Baekhyun doesn’t quite enjoy the movie as much as he enjoys sitting next to the girl, who seems to never be able to sit still in her seat, constantly moving and shifting. Once, she finds a perfect spot that has her hugging her legs as she sits facing an angle, her back grazing Baekhyun’s arm, the scent of her shampoo once again flooding Baekhyun’s sense of smell. But then she gets bored of that position ten minutes later and he is disappointed when she moves again away from him.

By the end of the movie, he only knows that he had been watching a chick flick that has left the girl next to him shedding some tears. He doesn’t even know the names of the main characters. But he does know to lean over and murmur a quiet Are you okay? as she was crying. She had chuckled softly and nodded, reassuring that she was okay.

Now that they’re out of the theatre, Baekhyun feels excited about their date. Well, not date. But he really wishes for the two friends of hers to just go home and to stop sending him flirty eyes. He has luck on his side today because the two girls claim that it is getting too late and that they should return home. Baekhyun nods in greeting while they smile and wave to him in an overly flirtatious way. The moment they turn their backs to them, the girl turns to Baekhyun with a grin.

“Shall we go to a café?”

And so they do. Because it is too late to drink coffee, they go to a bubble tea café. Baekhyun stands next to her in line, perusing the menu board before turning to her, texting on the phone. He notices the group chat she is in. She sends in a message and locks her phone, looking at Baekhyun. She grins at him.

“They said it was nice meeting you,” she lets him know. “And that you’re more handsome up close.” She glances at a new text that lights up her phone and makes a face. “And they just told me not to tell you that.” Baekhyun thinks she looks adorable when she looks up at him with a cringe. “Oops?”

He chuckles, shaking his head. “It’s okay. A compliment shouldn’t be kept to yourself, right?” he teases. And then he thinks he must be a big fat liar because of all the compliments he has for her, all bottled up in his body.

“Is that so?” She giggles softly. “Well, then I think you’re very handsome too.”

Is today’s Baekhyun’s dying day, or what? Has he used up all his luck for his entire life? Should he just get into trouble so the police would drive him home safely? How has he gotten so lucky? He feels quite breathless and very lightheaded. Adrenaline is coursing through his veins and he wonders if going out with her at night is a good idea. She might be his equivalent to caffeine.

“What do you want to drink?” she asks when Baekhyun has gotten unresponsive.

He blinks rapidly and swallows. “Um. The, um… the Oreo milk tea.”

She nods and smiles at him. “Okay. I’ll buy and you can look for a seat for us.”

Baekhyun is glad for that instruction because he definitely needs some time away from her. Not too long though because she is like the sun to him and he would always crave for her warmth. So he nods and goes off in search of a table. He is sitting on a stool, leaving the cushioned bench seat for her as he scrolls through his messages. He doesn’t even want to read the 39 messages he has gotten so far even though he knows that he would only get more by the end of the night. And when the girl returns minutes later with two large cups of bubble tea, Baekhyun forgets about the unread messages completely and shoves it into his pocket. He watches her take a seat in front of him. Then he is completely enamoured by her smile.

“Here’s your Oreo milk tea,” she chirps, sliding the drink over to Baekhyun.

“Thanks,” he mumbles, eyeing her milky pink beverage curiously. “What’d you get?”

“Yoghurt strawberry.” She beams at him and holds out her drink towards him. “Wanna try?”

Baekhyun stares at her, wondering if she is really offering him to take a sip of her drink. She nudges her cup in his direction with a warm, inviting smile. He swallows and takes it from her, careful not to touch her fingers because he knows he might get a sensation very close to electrocution and then, highly possibly, death. He takes a sip from the wide straw and a tapioca pearl shoots up the tunnel and into his mouth, along with the sweet and sour yoghurt drink. She is watching him intently with an eager look on her face when he returns the cup to her.

He nods. “It’s a bit sour,” he comments. “But yummy.”

“Yeah?”

She grins, excited to try it now. She takes the bubble tea from him and immediately puts her lips to the straw that Baekhyun had just drank out of. He gapes at her as his entire body just stops working. An indirect kiss! With her!

Oh dear. This is worse than drinking coffee at midnight. Baekhyun isn’t going to be able to sleep tonight.

Baekhyun is entirely too disappointed that time passes so fast. It is nearly ten at night and he is walking her back to her apartment, avoiding looking at Jongdae’s place just to pretend that he isn’t right there, ready to skin Baekhyun alive if he ever makes this girl next to him so much as say no.

Her smile is refreshing even at ten in the evening. He really thinks even if she isn’t the sun itself, she must be born with the essence of it, or maybe God plucked a bit of the sun to put it inside of her. Baekhyun feels entirely too crazy but he wants to go to sleep with her again, just to watch her and see if she would glow like the sun and if he would reflect her light like the moon.

“Thanks for the chocolate strawberries,” she says, lifting the box in her hand slightly. “My sister will go absolutely crazy for them.”

Baekhyun frowns a little, lip jutting slightly. “But I bought it for you.”

She chuckles. “Yes, but my sister loves them too. I’m sure you won’t mind me sharing the box with a four-year-old girl?” she teases.

A blush threatens to creep up his neck. “Of course not,” he mumbles. “I’d love to meet your sister, actually.”

At that, the girl brightens up even more and Baekhyun feels like he needs to squint at her blinding radiance. “She’s going to be so happy if she meets you!” she gushes. Baekhyun can feel her overflowing love for her little sister and he can’t help the fond smile playing on his lips as he watches her. “She loves it when people sing to her. And she would go crazy over your pink hair. She loves the colour pink!” Then she glances at the time and pouts. “It’s late though. She might already be asleep.”

“That’s okay,” Baekhyun quickly tells her, desperate to see her smile again. “I can meet her another day.”

She grins at him, her eyes sparkling. Her voice is soft and soothing when she mumbles, “You’re much nicer than all the stories I’ve heard about you.”

He his lips, feeling his cheeks turn warm at her words. Hearing her say that is so much more satisfying than hearing pleasured moans and sultry compliments. He wants to say something back but he just doesn’t know what. So he ends up stuttering, “I’m— I just—”

She chuckles, shaking her head. “It’s getting late, Baekhyun. Get home safe.”

She is about to turn to the door of her apartment when Baekhyun breathes her name. She turns around, raising her eyebrows in question. He swallows and clenches his fist to man himself up and let out whatever that he has been bottled up inside of him.

“I said we shouldn’t keep compliments to ourselves,” he mutters. He can feel sweat forming on his forehead, his body heating up in embarrassment. The girl hums and turns to him again, curious as to hear what he has to say. He takes in a deep breath. “I think you’re very beautiful. And smart. And funny.” He pauses for a moment, well aware that his face is probably glowing but not like how hers does. He is glowing red. “A-And,” he continues, just one last sentence to get out. “I think you make summer summer.”

The girl stares at him, amazed by what Baekhyun has just told her. Who would have thought that a playboy like him would think of her as beautiful and smart and funny? And that he would say such a thing like her making summer summer. She thinks that he is much greater than what people give him credit for. A soft, sweet smile stretches her lips. Baekhyun feels warm all over now, like she is a dose of hot chamomile tea on a cold night.

“You’re so sweet, Baekhyun,” she murmurs honestly, tilting her head to the side as she smiles at him. “Thank you.”

When she steps forward to press a kiss to his cheek, Baekhyun feels his heart exploding in his chest. And now he knows for sure.

He likes her.

To the sun and back.