Baekhyun fiddled around with his fingers as he waited at the gate for Su Kyung to come out.

Breathe in and breathe out.

“Ah, Bacon!” Su Kyung came running over and tackled him with a hug. “I’m here! Tada!” she grinned, giggling.

But when Baekhyun didn’t retort back with a snarky comment or tell her to get off like usual, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“Bacon?” she looked up to find him with his eyes closed, breathing in and out slowly. “Bacon, are you ok? Yah, don’t scare me pabo!” she quickly got off of him, holding his shoulders.

“Just… don’t touch me.” He said in a low tone. To be honest, he really liked that hug, but he had a hard time trying not to blush and calm his beating heart down. He was afraid that she would be able to hear it. But his words of embarrassment made Su Kyung think that he was mad at her or something.

She bit her lip. “Are you mad? Is it because I skipped lunch with you guys to finish my report? Or is it because drew bacon and puppy doodles in your biology text book? I swear Chanyeol and Kai drew some things in the book too! It wasn’t just me!” she suddenly confessed.

“Bwoh? You did what?” He looked at her, incredulously. “You DREW in my textbook?”

“Not only was it me but it also Chanyeol and Kai! I swear!” she suddenly put the blame on the two.

Baekhyun closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, exhaling sharply. “Aish, this woman is really….” He sighed one last time before looking at her.

“What pages?”

“Huh?”

“What pages did you draw it on?”

“Oh umm…” She got a little bit embarrassed suddenly. “You know… That page.”

“What page?”

“That page where you know… um… it looks like the polar bear is humping the other polar bear.”

Baekhyun nearly burst out laughing. Yes, he knew that page very well. Actually he was the one that had found and shared it with the others. When he imagined it with the doodles all over that page with the picture, he chuckled on the inside. But on the outside, he had a poker face just to a little.

“I swear I’ll erase it!” she tried to grab his bag, but he immediately stopped her.

“No!”

She looked up with a curious look and he stood back straight again.

“I mean I want to see how bad your drawing skills are. You’re not erasing them without my permission.”

She scowled but nodded. “So where are we going? You’re making me miss something very important so this little hangout better be fun.”

Baekhyun started to fiddle with his fingers again. “Well um, I actually don’t know. How about a movie?”

“Nah, I’m pretty sure I’m going to sleep through it.”

Well that crossed the horror movie off his list.

“Let’s go to the mall?”

“Hm, not thanks. Ji Eun already took me this past weekend.”

That crossed off secretly admiring her while she was trying on clothes.

“Lotte world?”

“Bacon, it’s a weekday. Do you really expect us to go now?”

And that just crossed off the Ferris wheel.

“Then where do you want to go, Ms. Picky?” he growled, a bit irritated that she ruined his original romantic plans.

Su Kyung thought for a while before grinning creepily; Chanyeol’s style of creepy.

“What are you thinking about?” Baekhyun asked wearily, scared of what she was thinking.

“It’s a secret. You’ll know when you get there. Kaja!” She smiled and hooked arms with her, leading him out of the campus.

“Seriously, where are we going?” Baekhyun asked once again as she pushed him in the taxi before giving the driver some unknown directions.

“I told you, it’s a secret so shush up before you ruin the surprise!” she slapped his thigh which made him flinch in surprise.

“Aish, ok. You don’t have to be so abusive, woman.” He scowled.

After fifteen minutes of agonizing silence for Baekhyun, the taxi finally stopped at their destination.

“We’re here!” Su Kyung squealed, excited as she hopped out of the car after paying the driver.

Baekhyun couldn’t keep up with her excited pace as he tried to guess where they were going. There wasn’t much around the area, but the building that she was heading to looked pretty normal. He had to squint his eyes in order to read the sign.

Seoul Childcare Center (SCC)

His eyes widened as he stopped in his tracks automatically. Oh man, she did not just bring him to this place. Carefully, he entered the building and was met with the smell of dirty diapers and cookies.

“NOONA~” “UNNIE~”

Cheers erupted from the little kids as they charged to Su Kyung who was smiling while holding out her arms.

“Aigoo, I missed you guys so much! Sung woo, did you get taller again?” she asked the little boy as he nodded proudly.

“Noona look, I lost my tooth!” a little boy held his tooth out that he had been carrying the whole day.

“Jinja? That’s great! The tooth fairy will reward you!” she pinched his cheek.

“Guess what guys? I brought a friend over! Do you want to meet him?” she stood up and clapped her hands. The kids all yelled in delight, telling her to show him to them. But when Su Kyung turned around, Baekhyun wasn’t there.

Furrowing her eyebrows, she turned back to the little munchkins. “My friend is shy so he needs a little encouraging. I know! Why don’t we call him? His name is Bacon.”

“Bacon? Unnie, is your friend a pig?” the little six year old girl asked with big innocent eyes.

“Aigoo, no he isn’t. That’s my little nickname for him,” she pinched her nose lightly. “Are you ready? Bacon! Bacon! Bacon!” And soon enough, the whole population was chanting for Baekhyun who was stunned in the hallway. Su Kyung peeked her head out of the door and motioned for him to come.

“Pali!” she waved her hand, but he stubbornly stayed rooted in his spot. “Are you crazy? They’re going to eat me alive.”

She rolled her eyes and grabbed his arm. “The tallest kid in there is to your waist level, pabo. They should be afraid of you.” She lectured, yanking him in the classroom. Once he saw those fifteen little pairs of eyes staring up at him, a part of him died in horror.

“Meet your new friend kids! His name is Bacon!”

Immediately, the little kids started to shriek in delight which burst his eardrums. Yeah, it really wasn’t a good idea to follow her. He almost forgot how much she adored little kids which were his worst enemy.

“Oh and Bacon, look who we have here!” Su Kyung cooed as she brought out a very familiar five year old boy.

Minwoo, the little boy from the market.

The two stared each other down. Minwoo seemed to be in a grumpy mood, same with Baekhyun. They seemed to both be thinking the same exact thing.

We meet again.

“Noona~ Does my picture look good, huh? Does it?” Minwoo pouted as he held up his little drawing up at her with those innocent eyes of his.

She squealed and picked him up. “Minwoo ah, it looks amazing! You should be a painter when you grow up? Now tell your noona what you drew,” she cooed, kissing him on the cheek. For the first time, Baekhyun wished that he could be in Minwoo’s place then.

“It’s you, noona!” he pointed to the little cartoon that was colored in pink. “And that’s me!” he then pointed to a smaller cartoon that was holding hands with her. “And finally, that’s hyung!” he pointed to the biggest one of all that was also holding one of Minwoo’s hands.

“Hyung?” Baekhyun repeated, tilting his head a little. Did Minwoo draw him as the hyung?

“Minwoo ah, is that me?” he asked with an expectant smile but to his surprise, the little boy stuck out his tongue and shook his head.

“No way! This hyung is Woohyun hyung! He’s always nice to me unlike stupid Bacon!” the little boy retorted, making a face which made his classmates and Su Kyung giggle.

But Baekhyun couldn’t believe his ears. Did he just say Woohyun? Aish, how does everyone know Woohyun?! Is he Mr. Popular now? Baekhyun couldn’t help but to be jealous upon hearing his rival’s name escape even the little boy’s lips.

Su Kyung sent an apologetic look at him as she explained everything. “Bacon, you see here, it turns out that Minwoo is actually Woohyun oppa’s baby cousin. I didn’t even know about it either until Minwoo mentioned something about his hyung going to our school. Small world huh?” she sent a smile but Baekhyun grew even more frustrated. Darn that Woohyun. He’s always the one that makes everyone like him. He couldn’t even make a little kid like him better than Woohyun.

Baekhyun sulked in his own little corner, refusing to play with the kids because of his phobia. Obviously the kids were a bit bothered by it but Su Kyung covered it up by saying he was just shy.

“Yah Bacon, what are you doing all the way over here? The kids are sad that you aren’t playing with them!” Su Kyung smacked his shoulder as she sat next to him in the sand pit while he was moodily digging through it.

“Aish, I didn’t want to come here in the first place woman!” he snapped back, scooping some sand up and dumping it in the huge pile that he was creating.

“Hey, don’t you snap back at me Bacon! I was just visiting the kids. I missed them so much you know.” She pouted, tugging on his arm’s sleeve to make him give in.

Well didn’t it ever occur to you that the reason I wanted us to hang out was to be alone with you, not be ed by a bunch of sugar rushed kids? He thought to himself as he persistently ignored her attempts.

Su Kyung scrunched up her nose before scoffing. “Fine. Maybe bringing you here was the wrong choice in the first place. I knew I should’ve brought Woohyun here instead. He loves kids.” She stood up and turned around to leave, but Baekhyun shot out his arm to grab her wrist.

“What?” she turned around, a bit disappointed yet mad.

“I never said I didn’t like kids! I’m just… scared of them,” he muttered. Saying that definitely hurt his pride a bit.

She couldn’t help but to let out a small smile as she kneeled back down beside him. “Bacon, why are you so scared of them? They should be scared of you. The kids can’t even hurt you; you’re the only one that could hurt them.” She touched his arm which made him stiffen at the sudden contact, heart beating rapidly.

“Because… they may be little but they can say really hurtful things without actually knowing what they’re saying.” He whispered so low that even Su Kyung had trouble hearing that.

A part in her swelled up. Was she really seeing this side of Baekhyun? The side of him that’s insecure and afraid? All because of his fear of little kids? She smiled softly, standing up and making him follow by tugging on his arm. Once he finally stood up, she took his hand in hers.

“No one is going to hurt you, Baekhyun. Not me, not the little kids, not our classmates. You know why? Because I’ll always be by your side. I won’t let anyone hurt you, I swear.” She comforted him, intertwining his fingers with hers.

Baekhyun felt his heart warm up at her sweet words. He nodded slowly and let him be led back into the care center where the kids were still playing their little heart outs.

“Guys, attention!” Su Kyung clapped her hands together, letting go of Baekhyun’s hands. He tensed up at the loss of contact. It made him feel insecure and exposed especially since there were about fifteen pairs of little eyes staring up at him.

“Bacon here is a bit shy so he doesn’t talk much, but it’s your duty to make sure that he feels welcome so treat him right, ok? Be nice and that includes you Sungmin!” she pointed to the little boy who was missing his front teeth. Even he nodded his head happily. “Arasso! It’s snack time! Can someone lead Baekhyun to the snack table while I get the snack and milk?” she asked politely as she brushed past him.

“Don’t be afraid Bacon, they won’t bite, I promise,” she winked, patting him on the shoulder before disappearing into the kitchen. He looked at the door with a pitiful expression that r