23.

Ye Eun rest her head on the steering wheel, there are times she feels like wanting to bang her head on it but of course, she would restrain herself from doing so. She has no idea on why she is doing this, why she lets herself getting into the situation that is not even on her side, obviously. The lady has been trying to win back Chanyeol’s heart and there are times that she could feel the love is present but not for long. It keeps fade away which confuses her, makes her question; is there really any space in Chanyeol’s heart that was hers?

Chanyeol is always in somewhere else. Even if they share one space, his heart and mind is absent. The man denies every time Ye Eun speculates it that way but he never shows any changes. And now Ye Eun is already tired of arguing. She doesn’t have the heart to fight anymore.

Her eyes looks down to her feet as she walks along the hallway going to her own unit apartment, but her steps halt upon meeting another pair of feet right in front of her door. From the sight of shoes the person is wearing, it is obvious that the person is a man.

And as she looks up, Ye Eun’s eyes meet a face that is smiling brightly to see her. “You must’ve been shocked, right? I tried to call you earlier but your phone is off, I guess.” Then Minseok lifts up the lunchbox in his hand as he utters, “I made us some food! We should go somewhere nice to have this, do you know any good place here?”

Her pair of orbs is still widened, she could not believe neither her eyes nor her ears, and Minseok notices the expression on that face. Thus the man’s frown grows again and slowly apologizes for his mistakes. “Sorry, I suppose this is uncomfortable for y–”

“No!” Minseok is a bit startled by the sudden reaction, as well as Ye Eun especially when she finds herself holding her hands up, stopping right in front of the doctor’s face and put both of them in an awkward situation. Slowly, she drops her hand while the man clears his throat before she corrects herself, “Not that you’re making me feel uncomfortable but…” she hesitates. “It’s a bit sudden, and you even brought a meal…”

“Please accept this comfortably, as a return of favor, maybe?”

“Hm?”

“You send me homemade lunch every day, right? Thanks to you, I could not even skip my meals, so take it as a symbol of my gratitude.”

She nods a few times then takes a second to think of it. “I told you I do it out of courtesy, so you don’t have to feel owed.”

“Ey, how could I?” This time, he insists again. “Or perhaps, can you take it as a present?”

“Pre…sent?”

“Birthday present.” Minseok bites his lips and takes a few moments to breathe before he reveals his true intention, “Actually, this is all I prepare for your birthday but after seeing your surprised face, I tried to come up with some kind of excuses,” he smiles sheepishly, one hand on his head, ruffling his hair while chuckles escapes his mouth to cover the embarrassment. “I should be honest from the start, don’t you think so?”

Ye Eun deadpanned. She looks up to Minseok’s face and clearly, a pure form of sincerity shines up from him. How does he– However instead of keep throwing her wonders, a smile creeps on the lady’s face, her heart is touched. Slowly, Ye Eun parts her lips again then replies, “Then how about a walk after having the food?”

“Byun Baekhyun, you’re really killing me!”

She knows there are a lot of people at the airport, but that doesn’t concerns her. Not like the people around care to check them out on the first place. She still sending him the death glare, and before she could take one step ahead, the man was faster to run away and hide behind his son. Baekhyun squeezes his eyes shut for a few seconds then timidly, he peeks from Joonie’s back together with a grin, all his teeth showing, even when the lady is still squinting at him.

“Dad. You are extremely good at surprise, I must say,” Jooie huffs and shakes her head. She sounds awed but disappointed at the same time which makes her father gape for a second. He looks like he could not believe what had just coming out from that five years old kid.

And so Baekhyun gets on his feet again then tilts his head to the side, puzzled. “Jooie, aren’t you happy? We’re going on vacation, anyway.”

“But you said it’ll be a short one,” the mother breathes, interrupting. Her head is about to burst when she checks the destination on their boarding pass that is supposed to be Jeju Island – as they planned earlier in the car – is changed to Hokkaido. Obviously, the mastermind behind all this is Baekhyun, by himself alone. He was the one who arranged the flight booking for four of them.

The lady’s ears catch Baekhyun’s laughter as he jokes, “I said it’ll be short. But only the time we’re going to spend there, not the distance.”

“You really!” Again, she reaches her hands out to give him a taste of her pinches – he seems to have forgotten about it – but Baekhyun takes his steps away again, making the lady gives up immediately as a heavy sigh escapes . “Whatever, we’re going, anyway.”

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