Baekhyun loved kids. Small demons trying to get on his nerves were what he found to be cute. He wanted one for himself and he didn’t have one. Whose fault is that Baekhyun? Was what his elder brother said when the former expressed his desire for holding a family. He had brought one of his brother’s children with him for the weekend. Byun Taehyun was the reflection of Byun Baekhyun. He was literally Byun Baekhyun, which is weird because he is supposed to be the son of his brother. Baekhyun’s love for this little puppy was indescribable. Legend has it when both of them unite; upheavals are brought upon those near them. Both of them were equally mischievous and noisy. God help Sae Ri when she has to live with both of them.

Sae Ri’s mind was filled with a lot of questions when she found Baekhyun holding a sleeping child. Baekhyun gestured Sae Ri not to make any noise as he gently placed the angel on his bed and kissed his forehead. This was the first time he found Sae Ri in the living room when he closed the door of his bedroom behind him. Her expression remained unchanged when she saw Baekhyun before he stopped her. “We can have dinner together. I brought chicken.” Baekhyun raised the polythene he was holding in his hand with a gleeful expression. “I-I have already had dinner.” She said the words she could think of and before Baekhyun could say anything, she advanced towards her room.

“I guess I’ll eat alone then.”

It was midnight. Sae Ri was hungry. Being the idiot she was, she had to lie to avoid any human interaction with Baekhyun. “I should have eaten the chicken when he offered.” She whispered to herself and curled up at the corner of the bed. She changed her position several times; sometimes she stared at the ceiling, sometimes she stared at the windows and tried acting out a whole movie in her head but she was still awake. Her stomach grumbled, begging for food this time. She tip-toed out of the room, checking to see if Baekhyun was still outside. Finding everything still and quiet, she advanced towards the kitchen.

“What happened?”

“Oh My God!”

Sae Ri yelled when she saw a man’s face lightened by the torch he was holding. Upon realizing it was just Baekhyun, she calmed down. “I am sorry I scared you. I was hungry so I decided to come here.” He reasoned and smiled at her. Had he not eaten his dinner? She thought and all of sudden her stomach grumbled, embarrassing her in front of the male. “I’ll heat up the chicken.” He chuckled and took out the chicken from the refrigerator. This time, Sae Ri had no choice but to have dinner with Baekhyun.

Baekhyun could use only one word to describe the atmosphere. Awkward. Neither of the adults was saying any word. She never left her room let alone talk to Baekhyun. The only time both of them met was when they had breakfast or when they had dinner. Baekhyun was usually the one who talked. Her eyes were always focused on her food never looking up to look at the man who was sitting opposite to her. She either never replied or replied using ‘hmmm’ or nodded. But this time the tension was visibly thick.

“So a game developer, huh? Must be an interesting job. Which games have you worked on?”

“I have worked on a lot of games.” She simply answered.

“Like?” Baekhyun felt like he was pushing her. But he wanted to know her. Both of them never talked and he felt that this time, he could get closer to her.

“I have worked on Vincent, Jumpy Jack, Madrunner, han-”

“You have worked on Madrunner! That’s my favorite game. I love how I can customize the locations and cars. The details were excellent in the game. I have to say Level 78 was hard but I somehow managed it.” Baekhyun kept on blabbering about the game and Sae Ri internally giggled finding his reactions and descriptions cute.

“I brought my nephew with me. I hope you won’t mind. He is loud and noisy. If he disturbs you, do tell me.” Baekhyun smiled at her again making her think how can someone’s smile be so beautiful.

After both of them had finished eating, they left for their own rooms, both of them thinking about each other before falling asleep.

The beautiful sun rays bounced off the grey walls indicating that it was already morning. It was like a typical Disney voice. Sae Ri could hear the birds chirping and a mellifluous voice consumed her senses. Her eyes fluttered open upon hearing the melody, its musical notes dancing in her ears. It was Sunday and she wanted to ‘hibernate’ like any other normal human being. The voice coming from the hall was very captivating and she couldn’t help herself but listen to it intently. She wasn’t complaining at all. She tried to sleep again but she couldn’t deceive her body. It was awake now, fully aware that Oh Sae Ri needed to wake up now as it was 11 am.

She was greeted by a little human the moment she stepped in the living room. The kid’s resemblance to Baekhyun was uncanny. Sae Ri had no experience in dealing with children let alone with adults. She stared at the kid thinking what to do with ‘it’ when his uncle called him for breakfast. Her eyes followed the kid as he raced towards his uncle and hugged his legs. “Good Morning.” Baekhyun greeted her and his rectangle smile made an appearance. She mumbled good morning under her breath she was only audible to her ears making her think why did she even bother to wish him back when she was the only one who heard it.

“Who is this pretty lady uncle?” Taehyun shyly asked half-hiding behind Baekhyun’s frame. Sae Ri would be lying if she said she didn’t like the kid calling him pretty. “This pretty lady is my friend. Her name is Oh Sae Ri.” Baekhyun answered and carried the kid by his arms placing him on the counter. “Hello.” Taehyun hugged the woman with his short arms and snuggled more and more into her. This unfamiliar contact made her feel….weird. She never let anyone in her personal bubble and this contact did make her uncomfortable. She let the kid hug her and not knowing what to do she stood there frozen, with her hands up in the air not knowing where to place them. Does everyone in the Baekhyun’s family like hugging people or was this normal?

Sae Ri stared at the watch and then at the little kid in front of her. It has been five minutes since this kid was with her and she did not know what to do with the kid. She had tried every trick in the book which was known to her. She gave him some sweets, then she performed some magic tricks and made some scary faces but he didn’t give up following her. Taehyun was bored. “Can’t we play something?” Taehyun whined and buried his face in the pillows. “Do you wanna play some video games?” She questioned making the cutie’s face gleam with brightness.

“This is how you change the course.” Sae Ri explained the rules of the games to Taehyun who was quick to understand the game. Once he had memorized the details in his head, both of them were ready to play. “No!” Sae Ri shouted when Taehyun’s car overtook him making the latter jump ecstatically. The secret was that Sae Ri was deliberately driving slow so that Taehyun could taste victory. She liked seeing him smile. Taehyun smartly drifted his car through the fields to take a shortcut and reached the finish line first. “I win!” He ran in circles and then embraced Sae Ri. A smile took shape on her face and she hugged him back, embracing happiness, warmth, and love. Unknown to them, Baekhyun watched them through the gap of the door, smiling seeing both of them bonding. This was the first time he had seen Sae Ri smile and being close to someone and he had to admit, her smile was beautiful.

“I hope Taehyun isn’t bothering you.” Baekhyun voiced his concerns making Sae Ri look up from her food. “He isn’t.” This Sae Ri was the same Sae Ri he saw every day. The Sae Ri he had seen in her room seemed like the Sae Ri from a parallel universe. “Do you have any boyfriend?” Baekhyun’s random question startled her. Sae Ri had no love life. She was never interested in men and she never will be. Love, lust, commitment was beyond her. The love between a man and a woman was something she didn’t believe in. She found it funny; people ready to sacrifice everything for others was not love, it was madness and obsession. “I’m sorry. I must have scared you with the question.” Baekhyun sheepishly chuckled. “I have never had a boyfriend before.” Her answer triggered two emotions in Baekhyun. He was shocked to know that she never had a boyfriend before and her honesty added to his shock. Secondly, he was relieved to know that.

“That’s strange. How can a pretty girl like you have no boyfriend? Men must be blind these days.” Baekhyun’s words made her blush but she was quick to hide her reddened cheeks. “May I ask ….why?” Baekhyun was curious and before he knew, he blurted out the question. Great, now you have scared her Baekhyun. Well done, Baekhyun cursed himself internally. How hard it is to keep your mouth shut? I always have to run his mouth. Now, it’s awkward. Jesus, take the wheel. While Baekhyun was battling with himself in his head, Sae Ri was over-thinking. Why is he so interested in me? Does he like me? Is it a simple conversation? What Sae Ri had learned was that she could never foretell people’s intentions and motives unless she’s a clairvoyant. She wanted to escape from having a conversation with him but at the same time, she didn’t want to act impudently. He was her landlord after all. Was this the reason? Why did she want to talk to him? Usually, she would reply I don’t know but with Baekhyun, she felt comfortable.

“I like to be independent.”

Baekhyun was speechless. This was the longest she had talked to him. He was happy that she did say what she felt. He had never met anyone like Sae Ri before. She was what he wasn’t. “You can be independent in a relationship. Who said there are constraints in a relationship? You can still be Oh Sae Ri while being someone’s girlfriend.” Sae Ri knew that this conversation wouldn’t end anytime soon. “That’s not the only reason. I-I just don’t believe in love between a man and a woman. I don’t think it exists.” Her answers were intriguing to Baekhyun. Oh Sae Ri was another dimension; she was the unexplored destination to Baekhyun. “Just because you don’t believe in something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.” Sae Ri clutched the hem of her dress, unpleasant memories being played in her head. She had no idea why was Baekhyun even interested in her. She tried to calm down her rapid breathing and tried to stop the painful sensations of her past.

“I don’t know what happened to you that made you suppress your emotions and your true nature but I believe you are a good person. I can see in your eyes that you need someone to lean on and I am not talking about a man, I am talking about a friend. I know that I can get on people’s nerves sometimes but I can be a good friend. I believe that you are just as beautiful inside as you are outside.”

“Just because you believe I am a good person doesn’t mean that I am.”

Sae Ri’s voice was trembling and her eyes were pooling with tears. Baekhyun could not form any words in his mouth. He had hurt her and something ached inside him. Sae Ri raced towards her bedroom, shutting the door behind her. Her nightmares had decided to visit her again tonight and she let them torment her soul. This was her punishment that she was cursed with since she was nine.

The moment people come to know her personal stuff, which is very rare, she fades away from their life. She was just an unread book covered with several layers of dust, waiting for someone to explore her story and recently, the book had finally found its reader.